The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell to 213,000 last week, indicating a stable labor market

According to Zhitong Finance APP, last week, the number of initial jobless claims in the United States decreased, indicating that the labor market remained stable at the beginning of February.

Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday showed that for the week ending February 8, the number of initial jobless claims was 213,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the revised level of the previous week, while economists had expected 215,000.

The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims was 216,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the revised level of the previous week.

Since the beginning of this year, the number of initial jobless claims has shown a downward trend, consistent with historically low layoff rates. This helps support economic expansion and allows the Federal Reserve to pause interest rate cuts while assessing the impact of the Trump administration's policies. Economists believe that Trump's measures, such as large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants, increased import tariffs, and tax cuts, have inflationary effects.

Last month, the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the range of 4.25%-4.50%. Since the start of the policy easing cycle in September last year, the Federal Reserve has cumulatively cut interest rates by 100 basis points. In 2022 and 2023, to curb inflation, the Federal Reserve had cumulatively raised interest rates by 525 basis points.

Despite the low layoff rate, job opportunities for unemployed individuals are no longer as abundant as they were a year ago, and businesses are generally taking a wait-and-see approach. In January, non-farm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 143,000, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.0%.

For the week ending February 1, the number of continuing jobless claims decreased by 36,000 to 1.85 million, while the market had expected 1.882 million