Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs in the United States remain minimal even amid concerns about the economic impact of tariffs.
The Labor Department announced on Thursday that the number of jobless claims for the week ending June 28 decreased by 4,000 to 233,000, which is below the 241,000 predicted by analysts. Unemployment aid applications are generally viewed as an indicator of layoffs.
In another report on Thursday, the Labor Department stated that U.S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June, demonstrating the unexpected strength of the American labor market despite uncertainties related to President Donald Trump’s economic policies. The job increase surpassed expectations, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.1% from 4.2% in May, contrary to analysts’ predictions of a rise to 4.3%.
While layoffs remain historically low, many companies have announced job cuts this year, including Procter & Gamble, Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, and Facebook parent company Meta.
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it is laying off about 9,000 workers, its second mass layoff in months and its largest in more than two years.
Earlier this month, Google confirmed that it had offered buyouts to another swath of its workforce in a fresh round of cost-cutting ahead of a court decision that could order a breakup of its internet empire.
The Labor Department’s unemployment benefits report showed that the four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, fell by 3,750 to 241,500.
The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits the week of June 21 held steady at 1.97 million.
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