By Matt Grossman
The number of Americans who filed for initial jobless benefits rose last week, according to the Department of Labor, but remained within the range that has become typical in recent months.
The week through Jan. 11 brought 217,000 initial jobless claims, compared with 203,000 a week earlier. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had been forecasting 210,000 initial claims.
Except for the immediate aftermath of last year's hurricane season, weekly claims have come in between 200,000 and 250,000 since last summer.
The number of continued claims, a gauge of the size of the unemployed population, fell to 1.86 million in the week through Jan. 4, compared with 1.88 million the week before. The continued claims figures lag the initial claims data by a week.
The labor market is softer than it was a year ago, but a growing number of economists think it may have reached something like an equilibrium, rather than getting caught in a process of slow decline.
Unemployment is up from early 2024 but improved a bit in December, falling to 4.1%. Government statistics show that for the most part, companies that want to control labor costs have been doing so by pulling back on new recruiting--not by turning to pink slips.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-16-25 0857ET
