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The
number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the week
ending June 27 fell by 1,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department
reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 225,000 new
applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm
FactSet.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered
representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time
indicator of the health of the job market.
The government also released its more comprehensive June jobs
report on Thursday, a day earlier than usual due to the July 4
holiday.
That data showed that U.S. employers pulled back on hiring last
month, adding only 57,000 jobs. That’s less than half the
previous month’s total and a sign companies remain cautious. The
unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though that
decline is mostly due to the fact that many out-of-work people
gave up looking for jobs and were no longer counted as
unemployed.
June’s tepid hiring comes after a relative surge in job gains
the previous three months, countering concerns that the war in
Iran would trip up an already wobbly labor market.
Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range
mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy
emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began
slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to
President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his purge of the federal
workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant
to control inflation.
Among the companies that have cut jobs recently are Verizon,
UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.
Thursday's layoffs data showed that the four-week moving average
of jobless claims, which quiets some of the week-to-week noise,
fell by 2,500 to 222,000.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits
for the previous week ending June 20 ticked up by 2,000 by to
1.81 million, also a historically low figure.
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