The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits edged lower last week, with new unemployment claims continuing to hover in a historically low range, according to a federal report released Thursday.
For the week ending June 13, applications for unemployment benefits totaled 226,000 — a decrease of 4,000 from the prior week, the Labor Department announced. That figure closely matched the 225,000 new claims that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had anticipated.
Weekly unemployment filings are widely viewed as a reliable measure of layoff activity across the country and serve as a near real-time snapshot of overall job market health.
Even with concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could weigh on an already sluggish labor market, hiring has shown improvement in recent months. That follows a difficult stretch in 2025 when fewer than 200,000 jobs were added — a sharp contrast to the roughly 1.5 million positions created throughout 2024.
U.S. employers added a better-than-expected 172,000 jobs in May, and the economy has averaged 188,000 new positions per month over the three months since the Iran war began in late February. That marks the strongest three-month hiring stretch since early 2024. The national unemployment rate currently sits at a historically low 4.3%.
Job openings also climbed in April, with employers listing 7.6 million vacancies — up from 6.9 million in March and the highest total since May 2024.
Last week, the government revealed that rising gas prices — driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz along Iran’s southern border — pushed consumer inflation in May to 4.2%, the highest it has been in three years. Even with some recent easing, oil and gas prices remain high, putting a strain on household budgets and causing some businesses to hesitate on new hires.
Earlier this week, Iran and the United States reached an agreement to end the war and allow Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume selling its oil without restrictions.
With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, central bank officials chose to hold the benchmark interest rate steady on Wednesday. The meeting was the first presided over by new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who took over after Jerome Powell completed his eight-year tenure leading the central bank.
While lower interest rates typically encourage economic growth and hiring, they can also fuel inflation. As a result, several Fed policymakers have indicated they may actually support at least one interest rate increase this year in an effort to bring inflation down — though higher borrowing costs tend to make businesses more cautious about expanding their workforce.
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence has added another layer of uncertainty to the jobs outlook, given the significant investment the technology requires and the possibility that it could transform or eliminate certain positions.
Among the companies that have announced workforce reductions recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks, and Walmart.
Since the U.S. economy recovered from the pandemic-era recession, weekly jobless claims have largely stayed within a range of 200,000 to 250,000. However, hiring began to slow roughly two years ago and weakened further in 2025, a trend attributed to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, reductions in the federal workforce, and the lingering impact of elevated interest rates aimed at curbing inflation.
Thursday’s Labor Department report also showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims — which smooths out week-to-week swings — increased by 4,000 to reach 223,250.
The total number of people collecting unemployment benefits for the week ending June 6 climbed by 24,000 to 1.81 million, coming in slightly above what analysts had projected.
