US jobless claims rose by 18,000 last week, hitting 185,000 but still remains historically at low levels not seen in more than 50 years.
- The figures represent a slight increase signalling a robust U.S. labor market with near record-high job openings and few layoffs.
- Weekly applications for unemployment aid, a proxy for layoffs, have remained consistently below the pre-pandemic level of 225,000.
- Last year, employers added a record 6.7 million jobs and have added an average of 560,000 more every month so far in 2022.
- Despite the slight weekly increase, claims were standing at 571,000. The four-week moving average was 172,250, an increase of 2,000 from the prior week’s revised average.
Ohio and Pennsylvania led other states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 2 as the largest decreases were posted in Michigan(-2,491), Texas(-2,487), New Jersey(-1,105), and Kentucky(-1.046).
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor.
