Jobless Claims Decline by 10,000 Amid ‘No Hire, No Fire’ Labor Market

There was a decline in initial claims for unemployment together with an increase in insured employment last week. Observers said this combination reflected a continuation of a “no hire, no fire” labor market. During the week ended Saturday (Dec. 20), there were 214,000 initial claims, a figure that was 10,000 lower than the 224,000 reported the previous week, the Department of Labor said in a Wednesday (Dec. 24) press release. The four-week moving average of 216,750 was 750 lower than the previous week’s average of 217,500. The drop in initial claims was unexpected, Reuters reported Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 224,000 claims. The report added that the discrepancy could be due to the challenges of adjusting data for seasonal fluctuations during the holiday season. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the economists that it polled had expected to see 225,000 claims during the week. The WSJ added that weekly initial claims have stayed within a range of 200,000 to 250,000 for most of 2025. The DOL also reported Wednesday that during the week ended Dec. 13, the insured unemployment rate was 1.3%, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week. The insured unemployment number for that week was 1,923,000, an increase of 38,000 from the previous week, according to the release. The four-week moving average of 1,893,750 was 5,250 lower than the previous week. Reuters reported Wednesday that the combination of a decline in initial claims and an increase in insured unemployment reflected the continuing…

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