Initial Jobless Claims rose 9,000 in the latest week, with 224,000 people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. However, Continuing Claims fell by 25,000, as 1.871 million people are still receiving benefits after filing their initial claim. Despite this most recent decline, Continuing Claims remain elevated, now topping 1.8 million for the 26th week in a row.
What’s the bottom line? The low fire, low hire trend remains persistent, as employers continue to hold on to their workers while also slowing down their pace of hiring. This was also reflected in the latest Job Cuts report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which showed that hiring announcements fell to their lowest year-to-date level since 2015.