The labor market is not showing many signs of softening.
New claims for jobless benefits edged higher last week, rising to 232,000 from 230,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Initial claims are a proxy for layoffs. After being extraordinarily low last year, averaging 213,000 per week and falling as low as 182,000 in September, claims moved higher in the first quarter of the year as companies—especially in the technology sector—downsized their workforce. Since April, however, claims have mostly moved sideways.
The number of ongoing claims, which are reported with a week’s delay, inched up by 6,000 to 1.8 million, a historically low level. This suggests that people are not finding it harder to get back on a payroll after being let go from a job.
The four-week moving average of initial claims—which smoothes out week-to-week volatility, fell by 2,5000 to 229,5000.
The Fed has been trying to soften demand for workers, fearing that extremely low levels of unemployment combined with many vacant jobs could push up inflation. On Wednesday, the Labor Department said the number of job openings rose to 10.1 million, pushing the ratio of vacancies to unemployed people up to 1.8 to one, evidence of an extremely unbalanced labor market.
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