The number of jobless claims in the US remained low at the beginning of last week, in line with a healthy job market. According to data released by the US Department of Labor on Thursday, the number of jobless claims for the week ending April 13 was 212,000, slightly lower than the 215,000 expected by the market. The number of renewed jobless claims in the US for the week ending April 6 remained at 1.81 million, with little change.

Despite high interest rates, the US job market remains surprisingly resilient. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said on Tuesday that the continued strength of the labor market and lack of progress in inflation may cause policymakers to maintain high interest rates for a longer period of time.

The number of unadjusted initial jobless claims that did not take into account seasonal effects fell to 208,509. New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania saw the biggest declines, while California saw an increase.

In the 20 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average number of initial jobless claims per week was about 345,000, and the number of renewed jobless claims was about 2.9 million.

Editor/Jeffrey