By Matt Grossman
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign that layoffs have remained limited even in a labor market that has cooled.
In the week through April 11, 207,000 people filed new jobless claims, down from 218,000 a week earlier. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting to see 215,000 initial claims.
The number of workers who extended previously filed claims, one indication of the scale of the unemployed population, ticked up slightly to 1.82 million in the week through April 4, from 1.79 million in the previous week. The continuing-claims data lag the initial-claims filings by a week.
The steady trend in unemployment claims shows that the labor market has remained in a remarkable stasis. Hiring has slowed over the past few years, but so has growth in the number of people available for work in the U.S., a balance that has helped constrain layoffs and joblessness.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-16-26 0859ET
