Unemployment claims rose less than expected at the end of July, Reuters reports. Labor Department data released Thursday shows that economists' fears of a residual effect from global trade tensions are so far unfounded.
During the last week of July, unemployment benefit claims rose by 1,000, bringing the total to 218,000. The increase was a modest uptick from the previous week, when the 208,000 claims marked the lowest number since 1969.
"Claims had started to move higher in mid-June, leading us to question whether it could be the fallout of protectionist measures,” Blerina Uruci, an economist at Barclays, told Reuters. “The decline over the past few weeks, however, suggests no such effect on labor markets yet."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Economists had predicted that the numbers would rise more substantially, forecasting around 220,000 claims. Some cited rising tensions due to the Trump administration's tariffs on imported goods from China and the European Union, foreseeing a disrupted supply chain that could affect employment numbers. However, the Labor Department said that "the labor market has continued to strengthen and economic activity has been rising at a strong rate." Read more at Reuters.
-
Israel: Losing the American publicFeature A recent poll finds American support for Israel's military action in Gaza has fallen from 50% to 32%
-
Unmaking AmericansFeature Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans. Could he do that?
-
EPA: A bonfire of climate change regulationsFeature The Environmental Protection Agency wants to roll back its 'endangerment finding,' a ruling that lets the agency regulate carbon emissions
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
