US Initial Jobless Claims Rise More than Expected

2026-02-05 13:36 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

Initial jobless claims in the US rose by 22,000 from the previous week to 231,000 on the last week of January, sharply above market expectations of 212,000, to mark the largest magnitude of initial claims in nearly two months.

Consistently, continuing claims rose by 25,000 to 1,844,000 in the previous week after having dropped to the lowest level since September 2024 halfway through the month.

The rise in claims was attributed to business disruptions following the series of winter storms across multiple parts of the country, prompting households to apply for unemployment benefits, and maintaining the view that the US labor market remains in a low firing and low hiring trend.

Initial unemployment claims from federal employees, which have been under scrutiny as markets measure the impact of the US government shutdown, fell by 230 to 568.



News Stream
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