U.S. Jobless Claims Held Near Historic Lows Last Week

New functions for unemployment advantages ticked down final week and hovered close to historic lows, an indication the U.S. labor market remains tight regardless of indications of an financial slowdown.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to a seasonally adjusted 229,000 final week from the earlier week’s revised degree of 231,000, the Labor Department stated Thursday. That is barely above the 2019 prepandemic weekly common of 218,000, when the job market was additionally traditionally tight.