U.S. jobless claims ticked up slightly last week, but employment appeared stable as the scale of layoffs remained low despite economic uncertainty stemming from the U.S.-Iran war.
The Labor Department said on the 28th (local time) that initial jobless claims for the week of May 17-23 were 215,000, up 5,000 from the previous week's 210,000. The figure slightly exceeded the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 213,000.
Continuing claims, which cover people who have filed for unemployment benefits for two weeks or more, totaled 1,786,000 for the week of May 10-16, up 15,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average, which smooths weekly volatility, rose by about 6,300 to 209,000.
Jobless claims are generally used as an indicator to gauge the scale of layoffs. Since emerging from the recession caused by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has maintained a low weekly level of about 200,000 to 250,000 jobless claims. In particular, the more stable jobless claims are, the more it suggests that U.S. corporations are not engaging in large-scale layoffs.