Our unemployment benefits applications fell last week as the labor market remains robust ahead of the expected purges of federal employees.
The Labor Bureau said Thursday that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell from 21,000 to 221,000 in the week ending March 1st. This is significantly less than expected with 236,000 new application analysts.
The weekly application of unemployment benefits is considered a layoff proxy. Layoffs have largely been in the range of 200,000 to 250,000 for several years.
The four-week average increased from 250 to 224,250, evenlying some of the weekly volatility.
Some analysts are hoping for layoffs where government efficiency is ordered to appear in reports in the coming weeks or months.
Earlier this week, two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that the IRS was drafting a plan. Reduces 90,000 labor force Only half of the combination of layoffs, exhaustion and incentive buyouts. People spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday. Because they were not allowed to disclose the plan.
Layoffs are part of that The Trump Administration’s efforts Reduce the size of Federal Workforce Through a billionaire Elon Musk Government Efficiency Bureau.
already, Approximately 7,000 probation IRS employees In February, services for less than a year were fired from the organization.
Last week, a senior US official set up a government Downsizing It’s moving Through a note It is dramatically expanding President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce his workforce. Thousands of probation employees Already firedand now the Republican administration is paying attention to career staff with civil servant protection.
The agency has been instructed by March 13 to submit plans for what is called forced cuts, not only laying off employees, but also eliminating jobs entirely.
Despite showing signs of weakening over the past year, the labour market remains healthy with abundant jobs and relatively few layoffs.
The Labor Bureau reported us Employers added 143,000 jobs In January, there were much less than in December. 256,000 jobs Profit. However, the unemployment rate has been further reduced to 4%, indicating a very healthy labor market.
Overall, layoffs remain low by historical standards, but some well-known companies have already announced their jobs this year.
Working days, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines Facebook’s parent company Meta has already trimmed its workforce in 2025.
On February 22, the total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits increased from 42,000 to 1.9 million.
