US president Joe Biden speaks about his economic plan at an event in Wisconsin this week. The US Labor Department said initial unemployment claims rose by 13,000 to 196,000 in the week ending February 4th. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFPApplications for US unemployment benefits rose for the first time in six weeks but remained historically low, underscoring the resilience of the US jobs market despite mounting economic uncertainty.
Initial unemployment claims rose by 13,000 to 196,000 in the week ended February 4th, US Labor Department data showed on Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 190,000 applications. Continuing claims, which include people who have already received unemployment benefits for a week or more, increased to 1.69 million in the week ended January 28th.
The US labour market has remained firm in the backdrop of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive tightening campaign in a generation. Despite a rising number of lay-offs spreading beyond tech companies, many business – particularly smaller ones – are still struggling to hire, while others are holding on to staff they worked so desperately to on-board.