Applications for first-time unemployment benefits in the United States edged lower last week, reinforcing the view that employers are reluctant to let workers go even as hiring has cooled markedly. Initial claims fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 197,000 in the week ended October 3, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The reading came in below the 200,000 that economists had projected.<\/p>\n
The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, declined to 198,000 from 200,500 the prior week. Claims have now held near their lowest levels in 57 years for four consecutive weeks, a pattern consistent with what analysts describe as a “low-hire, low-fire” labor market.<\/p>\n
The data offers one of the first snapshots of employment conditions since the government reported that nonfarm payrolls grew by just 29,000 jobs in September, far short of expectations, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%. Economists attribute the tepid hiring to a shrinking labor pool driven by retirements and stricter immigration enforcement, leaving historically low layoffs as the primary support for job market stability.<\/p>\n
Employers appear to be hoarding workers amid solid profit growth and buoyant equity markets, yet they remain hesitant to expand headcount. Analysts have pointed to lingering uncertainty as a key factor, first stemming from tariff policy and more recently from the conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran, which has pushed diesel prices to record highs and lifted costs for other commodities.<\/p>\n
Continuing claims, which track the number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid and serve as a proxy for hiring, rose by 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.716 million during the week ended September 26. The prior week’s figure was revised down to 1.699 million from 1.701 million.<\/p>\n
Despite the still-low level of continuing claims, the sluggish pace of hiring has left some unemployed individuals facing prolonged stretches without work. The median duration of unemployment reached 11.5 weeks in September, close to a four-and-a-half-year high.<\/p>\n
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September 15-16 policy meeting, released Wednesday, showed officials “judged that labor market conditions were stable and generally viewed the labor market as close to maximum employment.” Policymakers also noted that they “generally viewed the upside and downside risks to the labor market as broadly balanced.”<\/p>\n
The central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points last month to a range of 3.75% to 4.00%, marking the first increase in three years, and signaled that further hikes were likely in the months ahead. However, the weak September payroll figures and cooler-than-expected inflation readings for July and August have reduced the odds of another increase at the Fed’s upcoming meeting this month. Market participants now anticipate the next rate hike will come in December.<\/p>\n
A persistently solid labor market could give central bank officials more room to lift borrowing costs for the second time this year as they work to contain inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Applications for first-time unemployment benefits in the United States edged lower last week, reinforcing the view that employers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7616,307091,307090,26439,307092,296590,138,219,866,16609,111,139,69,307089],"class_list":["post-625029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-7616","tag-1-716-million","tag-307090","tag-26439","tag-3-75-4-00","tag-4-2","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-federal-reserve","tag-iran","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-u-s-labor-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}