Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 212,000 claims for the past week. Heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures covered large parts of the country in late January, leaving some people temporarily unemployed.
Claims are also likely to rise as volatility disappears from the figures around the turn of the year. The disruptions leave the labor market in what economists call a “low hire, low fire” mode, despite recently announced layoffs by United Parcel Service and Amazon.com.
Economists have attributed the stagnation in the labor market to uncertainty caused by import tariffs and the growing popularity of artificial intelligence, which they say has left companies uncertain about their workforce needs as they dedicate more resources to AI. They are cautiously optimistic that job growth will pick up this year as tax cuts support consumer spending. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of relief, a proxy for hiring, rose by 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.844 million in the week ended Jan. 24, the claims report showed.
The claims data will not impact the January employment report, which will be released next Wednesday. The report, initially scheduled for Friday, was postponed due to the recently ended three-day federal government shutdown.
Economists’ estimates for nonfarm payrolls currently indicate an increase of 70,000 jobs. Payrolls rose by 50,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to remain stable at 4.4%. Economists say stability in the labor market could prompt the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged through the first half of the year. The US central bank left its key overnight interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range last week.
#weekly #jobless #claims #rising #expected