The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 215,000 seasonally adjusted for the week ended April 12. Reuters conducted economists forecast 225,000 claims in the past week.
There is still no indication that mass shootings by federal government workers are affecting the labor market.
President Donald Trump has slapped import tariffs on almost all foreign goods, and his trade policy has been shifting, which economists say makes it difficult for companies to plan ahead. Tariffs ignited a trade war with China, the biggest source of U.S. imports and feared high inflation and stagnation of economic growth.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell admitted on Wednesday that uncertainty was intensifying.
“We have been the goal to improve jobs and price stability,” Powell said at the Chicago Economic Club, an economic club, but added: “I do think we will get rid of those goals, probably to balance this year and then at least no progress has been made. “Low layoffs have anchored the labor market. Economists are growing for the unemployment rate in the coming months due to sluggish business sentiment. The claim data covers the deadlines for the government’s survey of the non-agricultural wage portion of the April employment report. The economy added 228,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in February.
Next week’s data on the number of people who receive benefits after the first week of aid, the agents recruited, may shed light on the fate of the labor market more in April.
The claims report shows that so-called ongoing claims increased by 41,000, with a seasonal adjustment of 1.885 billion for the week ended April 5.
