Associated Press Business Writer Matt Ott
Although a bit more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the labor market remains extremely healthy despite the ongoing trade war.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the unemployment claim application, which increased from 4,000 to 223,000 for the week ending April 5. That’s less than expected by 225,000 new application analysts.
The weekly application of unemployment benefits is considered a layoff proxy and has almost pingpong between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.
President Donald Trump placed a 90-day suspension on Wednesday on most of his widespread tariff hikes, but concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could overturn an incredibly resilient labor market.
Trump’s promise to significantly reduce the federal workforce is in full motion, like his pledge to enact tariffs.
It is not clear when the work ordered by government efficiency has been cut, that is, when “doge” led by Elon Musk, will surface in weekly layoff data.
Federal agencies that have announced layoffs or are making plans cuts include the Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS, Small Business Administration, Veterans and the Department of Education.
Despite showing signs of weakening over the past year, the labour market remains healthy with abundant jobs and relatively few layoffs.
Last week, the government reported that US employers added an incredibly strong 228,000 jobs in March, with unemployment rates inching down to 4.2%, a healthy person by historical standards.
Several well-known companies have already announced jobs this year, including Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook’s parent company Meta.
The average of the four-week application aimed at smoothing out some of the weekly swings was no different to 223,000.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits in the week of March 29th fell from 43,000 to 1.85 million.
Original issue: April 10th, 2025 8:52am EDT
