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The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, reversing the prior week’s jump to a near four-year high and easing concerns about a rapid deterioration in the labor market.
Initial claims for state jobless aid dropped 33,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended Sept. 13, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by FactSet had forecast 241,000 claims. The prior week’s figure was revised up to 264,000, the highest since October 2021.
The report comes a day after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, shifting its focus from inflation to shoring up a cooling jobs market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics this month sharply revised down its estimate of job gains for the year ending in March 2025 by 911,000, suggesting hiring had been slowing well before President Donald Trump’s new tariffs were rolled out in April. August payrolls rose by just 22,000, far below expectations, while July data showed job gains of 73,000 along with steep downward revisions for May and June.
US employers had 7.2 million job openings at the end of July, marking the first time since April 2021 that unemployed Americans outnumbered vacancies. Growth in the first half of 2025 slowed to an annualized 1.3% from 2.5% last year, as businesses scaled back expansion plans amid uncertainty from tariffs and trade tensions.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, fell slightly to 240,000. Continuing claims declined 7,000 to 1.92 million in the week ending Sept. 6.
Initial claims for state jobless aid dropped 33,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended Sept. 13, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by FactSet had forecast 241,000 claims. The prior week’s figure was revised up to 264,000, the highest since October 2021.
The report comes a day after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, shifting its focus from inflation to shoring up a cooling jobs market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics this month sharply revised down its estimate of job gains for the year ending in March 2025 by 911,000, suggesting hiring had been slowing well before President Donald Trump’s new tariffs were rolled out in April. August payrolls rose by just 22,000, far below expectations, while July data showed job gains of 73,000 along with steep downward revisions for May and June.
US employers had 7.2 million job openings at the end of July, marking the first time since April 2021 that unemployed Americans outnumbered vacancies. Growth in the first half of 2025 slowed to an annualized 1.3% from 2.5% last year, as businesses scaled back expansion plans amid uncertainty from tariffs and trade tensions.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, fell slightly to 240,000. Continuing claims declined 7,000 to 1.92 million in the week ending Sept. 6.
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