More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, although layoffs continue to be at historically low levels. According to the Labor Department’s report on Thursday, jobless claims in the U.S. went up by 2,000 to 223,000 for the week ending March 15, slightly below the analysts’ forecast of 224,000 new applications. Weekly jobless benefit applications are seen as an indicator of layoffs, and have mostly ranged between 200,000 and 250,000 over recent years. The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations, rose by 750 to 227,000.
The impact of job cuts initiated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on the weekly layoffs report remains uncertain, although the Labor Department’s February jobs report revealed a loss of 10,000 federal government jobs, the highest since June 2022. Economists anticipate that the federal workforce reductions may not be fully reflected until the March jobs report. The reductions are part of the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative, led by Elon Musk, aimed at reducing the federal workforce’s size.
Government officials began implementing the downsizing plan last month with a memo expanding President Trump’s workforce reduction efforts, resulting in the termination of numerous probationary employees. However, recent court orders have mandated the rehiring of many of these dismissed workers. Despite some signs of softening, the labor market remains robust, with ample job opportunities and minimal layoffs.
The February report from the Labor Department showed a solid addition of 151,000 jobs by U.S. employers, causing the unemployment rate to rise slightly to 4.1%, a healthy figure historically. Several prominent companies have already announced job cuts this year, such as Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits increased by 33,000 to 1.89 million for the week of March 8.
