Associated Press Business Writer Matt Ott
US applications for unemployment benefits remained stable last week, a sign that the labor market remains healthy as businesses continue to maintain their employees.
The Labor Bureau said Thursday that there were claims of unemployment claims that ranged from 1,000 to 224,000 to 224,000 for the week that ends March 22. This is largely in line with forecasts from 225,000 new application analysts.
The weekly application of unemployment benefits is considered a layoff proxy and has been in the range of 200,000-250,000 for the past few years, primarily in the 200,000-250,000 range.
The Labor Bureau’s February employment report showed that the federal government reduced 10,000 jobs, but it remains unclear when government efficiency (Doge) will cut jobs ordered by “Doge,” the most since June 2022.
Economists don’t expect federal workforce layoffs to have much impact until the March employment report coming out on April 4th.
These layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to scale the federal workforce through doge, led by billionaire Elon Musk.
U.S. officials moved through memos that began to shrink government later last month and dramatically expand President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the workforce. Thousands of probation employees have already been fired, but last week two federal judges issued an order calling for the rehiring of thousands of these workers.
Despite showing signs of weakening over the past year, the labour market remains healthy with abundant jobs and relatively few layoffs.
The Labor Bureau reported that U.S. employers added a solid 151,000 jobs in February, reaching unemployment rate of 4.1%, but remained historically healthy.
Several well-known companies have already announced jobs this year, including Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook’s parent company Meta.
The government’s weekly unemployment claims report includes a four-week average application to even out some of the weekly swings. It fell from 4,750 to 224,000.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits in the week of March 15 fell from 25,000 to 1.86 million.
Original issue: March 27, 2025 8:45am EDT
