New claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. increased by a slight amount last week, however there remain no indications that tightening financial conditions have had a major influence on the labor market.
The Labor Department said Thursday that seasonally adjusted initial claims for state jobless benefits rose by 7,000 to 198,000 for the week ending March 25, 2023. Reuters polled economists predicted 196,000 new claims last week.
Despite high-profile layoffs in the technology industry, the number of claims has remained modest and has fluctuated within a narrow range.
Analysts speculated that the Covid-19 pandemic may have influenced seasonal adjustment factors, the model the government employs to remove seasonal changes from the data.
There was a little uptick in continuing claims between the survey weeks of February and March. In February, the jobless rate was 3.6%.
