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Friday Dec 5 2025 00:00
2 min
In the week ended November 29 (including Thanksgiving), initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased by 27,000 to 191,000. It's worth noting that weekly claims data can be particularly volatile around holidays. The figure was below market expectations of 220,000.
The four-week moving average for claims, which smooths out volatility, fell to 214,750 last week, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. That was the lowest level since January.
Even though many employers have sharply scaled back hiring in recent months and some large companies, including HP and FedEx, have announced layoffs, Thursday’s data suggests that actual layoffs remain limited, helping to ease concerns about a rapidly deteriorating labor market.
While continuing claims, a measure of the number of people receiving benefits, edged back to 1.94 million in the week ended November 22, they remained near their highest level since 2021. This ‘low hiring, low firing’ job market is holding down initial claims, but it's also limiting the ability of unemployed Americans to find new jobs.
U.S. companies cut the most jobs in November in more than two years, mostly driven by small establishments, according to data released Wednesday by the ADP Research Institute. That report, along with the weekly claims data, will feed into the Federal Reserve officials when they decide next week whether to cut interest rates for a third consecutive time.
A separate set of data released Thursday showed that U.S. companies announced fewer layoffs in November after surging the prior month, but still the highest for any November in three years.
Fed policymakers won’t have the November nonfarm payrolls report when they meet next week. Originally scheduled to be released on December 5, the report was delayed until December 16 because of a record government shutdown, and will be released with October’s employment data. Revelio Labs data suggests US nonfarm payrolls fell by 9000 in November, with October’s data revised from a 9100 decline to a 15,500 decline.
Initial claims also fell last week before seasonal adjustments. California accounted for almost half of the total drop in claims, followed by Texas and New York.
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