WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week, but the total number of those collecting benefits fell to the lowest level in eight months.
U.S. jobless claim applications for the week ending Dec. 6 climbed by 44,000 to 236,000 from the previous week’s 192,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s more than analysts’ forecast of 213,000.
The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Nov. 29 fell by 99,000 to 1.84 million, the government said. That’s the lowest level for continuing claims since mid-April.
Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
Jobless claims figures in recent years have remained in a historically healthy range, suggesting that overall layoffs have been muted despite recent high-profile job cuts. Hiring is also sluggish, which makes finding a job for those out of work challenging.
For now, the U.S. job market appears stuck in a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low.
Last week, private payroll data firm ADP estimated U.S. job losses of 32,000 in November. The surprisingly weak report comports with recent government employment data, which has shown a significant decline in job growth since President Donald Trump implemented his sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners in April.
Though September had a solid gain of 119,000 jobs, June and August both showed net job losses. The unemployment rate has inched up to 4.4%, its highest level in four years.
November’s comprehensive jobs data has been delayed for release until next week due to the government shutdown.
Job cuts announced recently by large companies such as UPS, General Motors, Amazon and Verizon typically take weeks or months to fully implement and may not be reflected in Thursday’s data.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate another quarter-point, its third straight cut to close out there year. The Fed has been slashing borrowing costs to prop up the slowing labor market.
The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 2,000 to 216,750.
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