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The
number of Americans applying for jobless aid in the week ending
July 11 dropped by 8,000 to 208,000, the Labor Department
reported Thursday. That's well below the 219,000 new
applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm
FactSet.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy
for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health
of the U.S. job market.
In its more comprehensive June jobs report earlier this month,
the government reported that employers pulled back on hiring in
June, adding only 57,000 jobs. That’s less than half the
previous month’s total and a sign that companies remain cautious
about adding to their head counts. The unemployment rate dropped
to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though that decline is mostly because
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 could 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 trimmed their workforce recently
are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.
Last week, Microsoft said it was cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2.1%
of its global workforce, including a large number of workers at
its Xbox video game business.
Thursday’s layoffs data showed that the four-week moving average
of weekly jobless claims, which adjusts for volatility, declined
by 4,750 to 214,250.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits
for the previous week ending July 4 fell by 16,000 to 1.81
million, also a historically healthy figure.
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