If there are widespread fears over the potential impact of U.S. tariff policies, it doesn’t appear to be showing up in the job market.
According to statistics released by the Labor Department Thursday, unemployment claims for the week ending July 12 fell to 221,000, the fifth consecutive week it dropped. That’s a decline of 7,000 and represents the lowest level since mid-April. Last week’s number was also lower than the 232,000 that analysts forecast.
Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June. The Associated Press reported that the job gains were much bigger than expected and the unemployment rate inched down to 4.1% from 4.2% in May. Analysts were expecting the unemployment to rise to 4.3%.
The Labor Department’s report Thursday said that the four-week average of claims, which smooths out some of the weekly ups and downs, fell by 6,250 to 229,500. The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the week of July 5 remained stable, ticking up by just 2,000 to 1.96 million.
