{"id":516841,"date":"2026-03-05T22:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516841\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:39:11","slug":"u-s-weekly-jobless-claims-steady-in-february-layoffs-fall-sharply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516841\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. weekly jobless claims steady in February, layoffs fall sharply"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Job seekers attend a career fair in Harlem, New York, in December, 2025.Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week while layoffs dropped sharply in February, consistent with stable labour market conditions.<\/p>\n

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits were flat at a seasonally adjusted 213,000 for the week ended Feb. 28, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 215,000 claims for the latest week.<\/p>\n

The labour market is regaining its footing after stumbling last year amid what economists said was uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump\u2019s broad tariffs, which he pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies.<\/p>\n

The import duties have since been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump responded to the ruling by imposing a 10 per cent global tariff and later announced it would rise to 15 per cent.<\/p>\n

The Federal Reserve\u2019s Beige Book report on Wednesday described employment levels as \u201cgenerally stable in recent weeks as seven of the twelve districts reported no change in hiring.\u201d The report noted that \u201ccontacts in several districts cited rising nonlabor input costs, softer demand, or uncertainty about overall economic conditions as reasons for flat or lower employment levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economists are optimistic that the labour market will regain momentum this year as tax cuts stimulate demand.<\/p>\n

A separate report on Thursday from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed U.S.-based employers announced 48,307 job cuts in February, down 55 per cent from January and 72 per cent from a year ago. Hiring plans soared 140 per cent from January, but they were down 63 per cent compared to last February.<\/p>\n

Tepid hiring means some people who lose their jobs are experiencing long bouts of unemployment.<\/p>\n

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, increased 46,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.868 million during the week ended Feb. 21, the claims report showed.<\/p>\n

Unemployed recent college graduates are not included in the claims data because they have limited or no work history, disqualifying them from claiming jobless benefits. The claims data have no bearing on February\u2019s employment report due on Friday as they fall outside the survey week.<\/p>\n

Non-farm payrolls likely increased by 59,000 jobs in February after accelerating 130,000 in January, a Reuters survey of economists predicted. The unemployment rate is expected to have held steady at 4.3 per cent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Job seekers attend a career fair in Harlem, New York, in December, 2025.Spencer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-516841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-ca","16":"tag-canada","17":"tag-canada-news","18":"tag-canada-sports","19":"tag-canada-sports-news","20":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","21":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","22":"tag-canadian-news","23":"tag-economy","24":"tag-education","25":"tag-environment","26":"tag-federal-government","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}