Fewer Americans file for jobless benefits last week as labor market continues to show strength

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press, via Yahoo! Finance

Associated Press Finance
Fewer Americans file for jobless benefits last week as labor market continues to show strength

MATT OTT
Thu, April 3, 2025 at 8:40 AM EDT 2 min read

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell modestly last week, remaining within the same range of recent years.

Jobless claim filings fell by 6,000 to 219,000 for the week ending March 29, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s less than the 226,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

However, following the Trump administration’s announcement of widespread tariff hikes yesterday, economists are worried about a global economic slowdown that could upend what has been an incredibly resilient labor market. ... Like his pledge to institute tariffs, Trump’s promise to drastically downsize the federal government workforce is fully in motion.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fewer-americans-file-jobless-benefits-124023119.html

[Lovie777]

1. Nope..........

[IzzaNuDay]

2. Seeking unemployment benefits is one fraction of joblessness

There are people who can’t qualify for unemployment benefits: For example, those working part time because that’s the only employment they have; and those who no longer qualify after benefits have been exhausted. I’m sure there are more examples out there.

[ck4829]

3. Yeah, do they care to show us how many people are working multiple jobs though?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. From the source, the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration:

News Release

Connect with DOL at https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, April 3, 2025

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 219,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 224,000 to 225,000. The 4-week moving average was 223,000, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 224,000 to 224,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent for the week ending March 22, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 22 was 1,903,000, an increase of 56,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the highest level for insured unemployment since November 13, 2021 when it was 1,970,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 9,000 from 1,856,000 to 1,847,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,870,500, an increase of 2,750 from the pr

{snip two charts}

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 200,057 in the week ending March 29, an increase of 157 (or 0.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 5,403 (or 2.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 197,349 initial claims in the comparable week in 2024.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent during the week ending March 22, unchanged from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 2,070,038, a decrease of 4,057 (or -0.2 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 64,642 (or -3.1 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.3 percent and the volume was 1,937,982.

{snip a lot more}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department's https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/internal/reasonable-accomodations-resource-centerReasonable Accommodation
Resource Center] converts Departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large
print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at [phone] (voice) or [phone] (federal
relay).

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 25-454-NAT

Program Contacts:
Lawrence Essien: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

For reference, from three weeks ago at DU. The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration keeps archives of these going back as far as you'll want to see.

Thu Mar 13, 2025: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims for the week ending March 8

[gypsy11]

5. I'm about to drop off

As my benefits are exhausted. Got let go from a job of 16 years for “performance” from a large well known multinational corporation- which really means- I’m over 50 so no longer wanted by said company. I watched it happen to others on the regular over the years. It’s SOP for this particular company. My performance was just fine. Regularly went above and beyond. Would put in the extra effort when a deadline loomed (via OT, weekends), never once missed a deadline, received awards, promotions, etc. I also have a lot of experience and industry specific certifications. More than the newly hired, fresh out of college, first real job manager, who decided he knew more than people that have decades of experience does and made the decision to cut me. A lot more. He wound up hurting the department. From what I hear, they can no longer produce anything. I wasn’t the only experienced older person cut from my department. Yet, he’s still the manager.

Since I’ve been let go, company hired recruiters REGULARLY contact me to try and fill the role the company released me from because I have the experience and certifications the job needs. It’s kind of specialized, so not very easy to replace with inexperienced people. Add to this that they have clawed back remote work, so the pool of available workers is much smaller now. Of course, the manager would never ever hire me back. He views me (and the others he cut) as a threat because of my/our experience.

I’m finding it’s really difficult for people over 50 to be hired anywhere. Although my experience has made it feel unbearable to go back into that kind of toxic, fear-based corporate culture. Now I’m thinking outside the box in terms of income because I really don’t think I can go back into that kind of grind. Very turned off by major corporations now.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. The job market these days

is a nightmare. The very idea of having to go back into the job market would terrify me.

[wolfie001]

6. This "pronouncement" virtually is the band playing on the Titanic

[Miguelito Loveless]

7. This contradicts reality

So, DoL stats can no longer be trusted.