It’s true more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but it’s also true that levels of those claims remain historically low.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, 214,000 workers filed applications for unemployment assistance for the week ending Jan. 20. That’s up some 25,000 from the week before.
The four-week average of claims, however, fell by 1,500 to 202,250.
Weekly unemployment claims are viewed as representative for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week. They have remained at extraordinarily low levels despite high interest rates and elevated inflation.
While it’s true layoffs have stayed low, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been cuts, particularly across the technology and media industries.
San Jose, California-based eBay announced a series of layoffs after ramping up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic while people spent more time and money online. The online auction site said Tuesday that it is laying off 1,000 workers, according to the AP.
Google has said it’s laying off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice assistance and engineering teams, while TikTok is also dumping dozens of workers. Video game developer Riot Games was trimming 11% of its staff. Amazon said this month that it’s cutting several hundred jobs in its Prime Video and MGM Studios unit.
The Los Angeles Times announced Tuesday it was cutting 20% of its newsroom, at least 115 employees. It’s the latest media company to cut workers, joining The Washington Post, NPR, CNN and Vox Media, among others.
Overall, 1.83 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended Jan. 13, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week.
