U.S. jobless claims hit eight-week high as labor market cools

The U.S. Labor Department said on Feb. 5 (local time) that initial jobless claims for the week of Jan. 25–31 were 231,000, up 22,000 from the previous week.

It was the highest in eight weeks since the first week of December last year. It also exceeded the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 212,000.

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed), said at a news conference last week that "(economic) indicators suggests that after a period of gradual weakening in labor market conditions, they may have stabilized."

Experts expect that as job growth slows and the unemployment rate remains steady, the U.S. labor market will develop into a so-called "no hire, no fire" pattern, with neither layoffs nor hiring.