Associated Press Business Writer Matt Ott
Despite uncertainty about how tariffs will affect the economy, few Americans apply for unemployment benefits last week as US layoffs remain low.
The Labor Bureau reported Thursday that unemployment claims for the week ending June 28th fell from 4,000 to 233,000, below 241,000, analysts forecast. An application for unemployment assistance is considered a representation for a layoff.
In another report Thursday, the Department of Labor reported that US employers added 147,000 jobs in June. This shows that despite uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s economic policies, the US labor market continues to show remarkable resilience. Job profits were much higher than expected, with unemployment falling from 4.2% in May to 4.1%. Analysts predicted unemployment would rise to 4.3%.
The job market is very sound by historic standards, but some weaknesses have emerged, as employers are fighting Trump’s policy, particularly his fallout from aggressive tariffs.
Tariffs raise prices for businesses and consumers, and most economists believe that by reducing competition, it reduces the efficiency of the economy. They could also induce retaliatory tariffs from other countries, hurt US exporters and promote businesses to freeze or reduce jobs.
Many of Trump’s strict proposed import taxes are currently suspended, but are expected to come into effect next week. Unless Trump reaches deals with other countries to lower tariffs, economists fear that they can act as resistance to the economy and set another match of inflation on fire.
Companies that announced jobs this year include Procter & Gamble, Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook’s parent company Meta.
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced it had fired about 9,000 workers, its second major layoff in months and the largest in more than two years.
Earlier this month, Google confirmed that it had offered shopping to another strip of its workforce amid a new cost cut ahead of a court decision that could order the disbandment of the Internet empire.
The Labor Bureau’s unemployment benefits report showed that the average four-week billing average equalizing some of the weekly volatility has dropped from 3,750 to 241,500.
The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits in the week of June 21 was stable at 1.97 million.
Original issue: July 3, 2025 8:45am EDT
