More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, showing a small increase in jobless claims as worries over new trade tariffs continue to grow.
According to the US Department of Labor, 226,000 people filed for unemployment benefits, which is 7,000 more than the previous week. Experts had expected only 219,000 claims. Even with the increase, these numbers are still considered low by historical standards.
This is the first official government report on jobs since last Friday’s disappointing July jobs data, which caused a big drop in the stock market. In response, President Donald Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — the agency responsible for reporting monthly job numbers.
Even though jobless claims went up, the numbers are still in the 200,000 to 250,000 range, which is considered normal since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. This is only the second time in eight weeks that claims have increased.
However, there are signs that the job market is slowing down.
In July, only 73,000 new jobs were added, far below the 115,000 expected. Also, earlier reports for May and June were revised down, cutting 258,000 jobs from those months. The unemployment rate also rose slightly from 4.1% to 4.2%.
Many economists believe that President Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies, which started in April, are making companies nervous about hiring. New tariffs, which are extra taxes on imported goods, began on Thursday and could hurt the economy even more or increase inflation.
Several big companies have already laid off workers this year, including Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Google, Meta (Facebook’s parent), Starbucks, CNN, Southwest Airlines, Intel, and Disney.
Meanwhile, the four-week average of jobless claims, which gives a more steady picture, dropped slightly by 500 to 220,750.
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Also, the number of people still receiving unemployment benefits rose by 38,000 to 1.97 million for the week ending July 26, which is the highest level since November 2021.
