Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose significantly, reaching their peak over the past two months. However, layoff numbers still fall within a historically normal range, even as concerns grow about an impending economic downturn due to trade tariffs.
The number of jobless claims increased by 18,000 to reach 241,000 for the week ended April 26, according to data released by the Labor Department on Thursday. This figure surpasses the predicted 225,000 new applications anticipated by economists and marks the highest level seen since late February.
Regular filings for unemployment aid serve as an indicator of employment terminations, and they’ve largely remained within a robust span of 200,000 to 250,000 claims over recent years.
In the week ending April 19, the total number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits rose to 1.92 million, marking the highest figure since November 2021.
Despite President Donald Trump having
paused
Or decided to retract many of his tariff threats, worries still persist regarding a potential global economic downturn that might disrupt the historically robust labor market.
As per the Commerce Department, there was a reduction
has already started in the United States
The Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that the U.S. economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.3% between January and March due to disruptions caused by Trump’s trade policies. In the first quarter, growth was hindered by a significant increase in imports as American businesses rushed to import foreign products ahead of potential tariffs imposed by Trump.
imposed massive tariffs
.
This marked the first quarterly GDP decrease in three years.
Similar to his commitment to implement tariffs, Trump’s vow to significantly reduce the size of the federal government workforce has dominated many of the initial weeks of his presidency and remains an ongoing effort.
It remains unclear when the job cuts mandated by the Department of Government Efficiency—also known as “DOGE,” led by Elon Musk—will appear in the weekly layoff statistics. Nonetheless, reductions in federal workforce numbers are expected.
are already being felt
even when not in the Washington, D.C. region.
Government departments that have either declared staff reductions or are considering cutbacks include the
Department of Health and Human Services
,
IRS
,
Small Business Administration
,
Veterans Affairs
and
Department of Education
.
Even though it has shown some indications of slowing down over the last year, the labor market still appears robust with numerous employment opportunities and comparatively low rates of dismissals.
Earlier this month, the government stated that U.S. employers had added a
surprisingly strong 228,000 jobs
In March, although the unemployment rate slightly increased to 4.2%, this remains a robust number when compared historically.
The Labor Department will release its April jobs report on Friday.
Several well-known firms have already declared layoffs for this year, including
Workday
,
Dow
,
CNN
,
Starbucks
,
Southwest Airlines
And Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
The Labor Department additionally stated on Thursday that the four-week average of claims, which mitigates some of the weekly fluctuation, increased by 5,500 to reach 226,000.
Matt Ott, The Canadian Press
