US filings for jobless aid, a proxy for layoffs, inch
down modestly last week as uncertainty lingers
[May 23, 2025] By
MATT OTT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans filing unemployment claims
last week fell slightly as businesses continue to retain employees
despite growing economic uncertainty over U.S. trade policy.
Applications for jobless benefits fell by 2,000 to 227,000 for the week
ending May 17, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s pretty close
to the 230,000 new applications analysts forecast.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are seen as representative of
U.S. layoffs and have mostly bounced around a historically healthy range
between 200,000 and 250,000 since COVID-19 ravaged the economy and wiped
out millions of jobs five years ago.
Even though President Donald Trump has paused or dialed down many of his
tariff threats, concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that
could upend the U.S. labor market, which has been a pillar of the
American economy for years.
The U.S. and China last week agreed to a 90-day pause in their trade
war, giving financial markets a boost and at least temporarily relieving
some of the anxiety over the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy.
Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate
at 4.3% for the third straight meeting after cutting it three times at
the end of last year.
Fed chair Jerome Powell said the potential for both higher unemployment
and inflation are elevated, an unusual combination that complicates the
central bank’s dual mandate of controlling prices and keeping
unemployment low.
Powell said that tariffs have dampened consumer and business sentiment
and the government recently reported that the U.S. economy shrank at a
0.3% annual pace in the first quarter of 2025. Growth was slowed by a
surge in imports as companies in the U.S. tried to bring in foreign
goods before Trump’s massive tariffs went into effect.
Trump is attempting to reshape the global economy by dramatically
increasing import taxes to rejuvenate the U.S. manufacturing sector.
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A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill.,
Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
 Trump has also promised to
drastically downsize the federal government workforce, but many of
those cuts are being challenged in the courts and Congress.
It’s not clear if or when the job cuts ordered by the Department of
Government Efficiency — or “DOGE,” spearheaded by billionaire Tesla
CEO Elon Musk — will surface in the weekly layoffs data.
Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the
labor market remains robust, with plentiful jobs and relatively few
layoffs.
Earlier this month, the government reported that U.S. employers
added a surprisingly strong 177,000 jobs in April and the
unemployment rate held at a historically healthy 4.2%.
Many economists still anticipate that a negative impact from trade
wars will materialize this year for American workers.
Microsoft last week began laying off about 6,000 workers, nearly 3%
of its workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years.
Other companies that have announced job cuts this year include
Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook parent
company Meta.
The Labor Department also reported Thursday that the four-week
average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week ups and
downs during more volatile stretches, rose by 1,000 to 231,500.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for
the week of May 10 climbed by 36,000 to 1.9 million.
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