The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell slightly at the end of February, suggesting economic damage from the coronavirus is still in the early stages and hasn’t caused companies to lay off any workers.
Figuers released Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department revealed initial jobless claims slipped by 3,000 to 216,000 in the seven days ended Feb. 29.. The figures are seasonally adjusted.
Economists had forecast a 217,000 reading.
So far, there’s little sign the COVID-19 epidemic has spurred companies to cut payrolls, but economists are watching closely to see if layoffs start to rise. More and more companies say their businesses have been disrupted by the viral outbreak, potentially hurting sales and profits.
New applications for unemployment benefits give a sense of how many people are losing their jobs. They touched a 50-year low of 193,000 in April 2019 and have hovered in the low 200,000s since then.
The more stable monthly average of jobless claims, meanwhile, rose by 3,250 to 213,000. The four-week figure filters out the weekly ups and downs to give a better sense of labour-market trends.
