New jobless claimants in the United States fell from the previous week, a sign that the labor market remains tight.
There were 229,000 initial jobless claims on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week to June 11, according to US Department of Labor data released Thursday. The figure was down from the previous week’s upwardly revised 232,000 claims, but exceeded the median forecast of 215,000 claims in a Reuters poll of economists.
Thursday’s report showed the pace of new claims increased the most in California, Texas, New York, Illinois and Ohio, based on unadjusted preliminary numbers.
“The latest data suggests some sectors may see an uptick in layoffs amid growing concerns about inflation, sentiment and the outlook,” said Mahir Rasheed, US economist at Oxford Economics.
The labor market remained warm and the unemployment rate stabilized at 3.6% in May, which is close to its pre-pandemic level.
Tech groups, especially in the cryptocurrency sector, have reported a few layoffs recently.
Continuing unemployment claims, which measure the number of Americans actively receiving unemployment assistance, were 1.31 million in the week to June 4, an increase of 3,000 claims from the previous week.
Initial claims have increased in recent weeks, but continuing claims have remained near their lowest level in more than 50 years.
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