New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits fell to 197,000 last week, keeping layoffs near historically low levels even as broader hiring has slowed substantially.
Initial claims declined from a revised 199,000 in the previous week, while the four-week moving average fell to approximately 198,000.
Claims have now remained below 200,000 for four consecutive weeks, a pattern rarely sustained since the 1960s.
The numbers reinforce an unusual feature of the current U.S. labor market.
Companies are hiring fewer workers, but they are also reluctant to dismiss existing employees.
September nonfarm payrolls increased by only 29,000, while the unemployment rate stood at 4.2%.
Continuing unemployment claims, meanwhile, increased modestly to about 1.716 million.
Taken together, the figures suggest that workers who already have jobs continue to enjoy substantial employment stability while people entering or re-entering the labor market may face a more difficult hiring environment.
That distinction matters for monetary policy.
A sharp increase in layoffs would provide clearer evidence that restrictive interest rates were materially weakening employment. The current data instead show a labor market losing hiring momentum without experiencing a broad wave of job losses.
The Federal Reserve must therefore weigh softer employment creation against persistent inflation and historically low layoffs when deciding whether further interest-rate increases are necessary.
For markets, upcoming claims reports and monthly payroll data will show whether the low-hire, low-layoff pattern can persist or eventually gives way to more conventional labor-market weakness.
