US New Unemployment Claims Fall to 198,000...Lowest Since Last November

Continuing Claims Also Drop to 1.884 Million

Last week, the number of new unemployment claims in the United States decreased, reaching the lowest level since November of last year.

A job posting is displayed at a retail store in Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA. Photo by AP Yonhap News

According to the U.S. Department of Labor on January 15 (local time), the number of new unemployment claims for the week of January 4 to 10 was recorded at 198,000. This figure is a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s 207,000 and also falls below the market expectation of 215,000. The four-week moving average of unemployment claims, which removes short-term volatility, also stood at 205,000, marking the lowest level in two years since January 2024.

Although concerns over a slowdown in hiring have grown recently due to policy uncertainties such as tariffs, companies are showing caution in both new hiring and layoffs, and there has been no clear increase in job cuts. While some companies, including PepsiCo and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, have announced layoffs, these have not spread into widespread restructuring.

The number of continuing unemployment claims, which tracks those filing for unemployment benefits for more than two weeks, was 1,884,000 for the period from December 28 to January 3. This is a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s 1,890,000 and is also lower than the market forecast of 1,903,000.

Weekly unemployment claims have shown increased volatility recently due to year-end seasonal factors. This indicator is used to gauge short-term labor market trends amid concerns over a slowdown in hiring.