CNN
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Layoffs may not be mounting, but it\u2019s getting harder to find a job in a labor market where hiring is \u201canemic\u201d as tariff-driven economic uncertainty has put a chill on some employers.\n <\/p>\n
\n New data released Thursday showed that initial claims for unemployment benefits \u2014 considered a proxy for layoffs \u2014 fell last week. However, the number of recurring claims made by people who already have filed for unemployment rose to their highest level since November 2021.\n <\/p>\n
\n There were an estimated 227,000 first-time applications for unemployment insurance made during the week that ended on July 5. That\u2019s down 5,000 claims from the prior week.\n <\/p>\n
\n Economists were expecting claims to move higher to 238,000, according to FactSet.\n <\/p>\n
\n The US labor market has cooled significantly during the past year, and the pullback in job growth has largely been attributed to employers reining in hiring rather than conducting mass layoffs.\n <\/p>\n
\n That trend, however, has meant that it\u2019s taken longer for unemployed people to find work. Continuing claims, which are filed by people who have received jobless benefits for at least one week, once again but up against three-and-a-half-year highs.\n <\/p>\n
\n The number of continuing claims rose by 10,000 to 1.965 million, marking the highest total since November 13, 2021.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to find a new job right now. Young people are struggling to get their first jobs and anyone who has been laid off is having a hard time landing their next role,\u201d Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote Thursday. \u201cThe labor market is frozen outside of healthcare, education and law enforcement jobs. Hiring is anemic in other sectors as companies remain cautious in this environment.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n In June, employers added a stronger than expected 147,000 jobs; however, about 94% of those gains were in healthcare and state and local government, according to the latest jobs report released last week.\n <\/p>\n
\n That report also showed that job seekers are staying unemployed for roughly six months, and the share of unemployed workers who have been out of a job for 27 weeks or longer rose to 23.3%, edging closer to a three-year high, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe sooner the tariff uncertainty abates, the better for job seekers,\u201d Long said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Jobless claims data can be highly volatile (especially during weeks with holidays) and is frequently revised, but can provide a timelier snapshot of shifts occurring in the labor market.\n <\/p>\n
\n The weekly reports have risen in importance as a potential indicator for how the sweeping actions taken by President Donald Trump \u2014 including steep tariffs, cutbacks to the federal workforce and to spending, and reductions in immigration \u2014 are impacting the economy.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Layoffs may not be mounting, but it\u2019s getting harder to find a job in a labor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[28,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-2058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}