The week’s modest increase in jobless claims suggested continued resilience in layoffs, even as economists said the labor market has stayed in a state of limited hiring and limited firing. The Labor Department said 212,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the week ending Feb. 21, up from the previous week’s filings, which remained close to levels seen in the past few years. Initial claims are commonly treated as a near real-time gauge of layoff activity.
The Labor Department’s report also showed the smoothed picture moving only slightly. The agency said the four-week moving average of jobless claims rose by 750 to 220,250, reflecting some week-to-week fluctuation without a sharp turn.
In the same release, the department said the total number of people filing for jobless benefits for the week ending Feb. 14 fell by 31,000 to 1.83 million. Economists typically interpret that broader measure alongside the initial-claims data to assess whether layoffs are building.
While jobless claims ticked up, the Labor Department’s earlier monthly employment data showed an unemployment rate decline. That report said employers added 130,000 jobs in January and that the unemployment rate fell to 4.3% from 4.4%. The Labor Department said that prior revisions to payroll data had reduced the number of jobs created in 2024 and 2025, cutting previously reported totals by hundreds of thousands.
In AP’s reporting, weekly layoffs have largely stayed in a low range—between 200,000 and 250,000—for the past few years, even as some large companies announced cuts recently. Recent examples cited by AP included UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post.
The pattern has led economists to describe the job market as “low-hire, low-fire,” with unemployment staying historically low while people who lose jobs struggle to find new work. AP also tied the hiring slowdown to uncertainty in the economy, including uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of high interest rates set by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023.
Economists diverged on how to interpret the stronger-than-expected jobs gains reported for January. Some saw it as a one-off, while others viewed it as potentially the first sign that hiring could strengthen enough to change the Federal Reserve’s outlook for interest-rate cuts. AP said some Fed officials have argued that weak hiring in the past year reflects borrowing-cost pressure weighing on growth and deterring companies from expanding, and that a continued hiring pickup could challenge that interpretation.
For now, the Labor Department’s next jobs report is scheduled for release next week, and investors and economists will look for whether hiring improves enough to offset the signals from slower job openings reported earlier in December. The claims data released Thursday provide one additional read on whether layoffs remain comparatively contained as that next report approaches.