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Let’s take our weekly look at jobless claims, which are the best up-to-the-moment measure of the labor market.

Initial claims rose 8,000 to 208,000, while the four week moving average declined -7,250 to 211,750. With the typical one week delay, continuing claims rose 56,000 to 1.914 million. Link here.
As a reminder, this is the exact time of the year when hard to adjust for seasonality most comes into play. Additionally, there has been a post-pandemic pattern of claims rising in the first half of the year towards a maximum, and declining in the second half to a minimum. This year fits that pattern, but with a pronounced declined since the beginning of November. Nevertheless, initial claims remain very low historically compared with the last 50 years.

As per usual, it is the YoY comparison which is most important for forecasting purposes. There, initial claims were down -4.3%, and the four week average down -0.9%. Meanwhile continuing claims are higher by 2.3%. Link here.

This is very much in line with the “low hire, low fire” economy. In fact, the “low fire” portion has been getting even lower. Continuing claims, while elevated compared with 2022-24, have also declined significantly since early November, although they remain higher than the earlier part of 2025. So the “low hire” facet of the labor market may have eased a bit.

All in all, another positive report indicating an economy that is still expanding.

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