WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. filings for jobless benefits rose in the last week of 2025 but remain historically low, despite signs that the labor market is weakening.
The number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 3 rose by 8,000 to 208,000, up from 200,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The figure was right in line with what analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.
Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
Last month, the government reported that the U.S. gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration. That helped to push the unemployment rate up to 4.6%, the highest since 2021.
The government’s December jobs report will be released Friday, with analysts expecting that the U.S. added 55,000 non-farm jobs.