US Weekly Jobless Claims: 209K

States reported that 209,000 workers filed for new unemployment benefits during the week ending March 9, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The weekly claims are consistent with an overall low level of job-cutting, despite recent high-profile layoff announcements. The unemployment rate has remained under 4 percent over the past two years, the longest such streak since the 1960s.

About 1.8 million workers continue to claim unemployment benefits. The unemployment claims data supports the contention that many employers are cutting back on hiring but not laying off workers. The labor market has showed remarkable resilience despite attempts by the Federal Reserve to slow the economy through a series of interest rate hikes.

Initial jobless claims have been low all year, said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “With layoffs unusually low across most of the economy, few workers are being pushed onto jobless rolls,” she said. “Nonetheless, continuing claims have been ticking upwards in recent months because new hiring has been somewhat sluggish."

Takeaway for employers: "As a result, labor availability is improving and many businesses are starting to find it easier to hire, even as the labor market remains historically tight," she said. "Both measures offer employers key insight into how hiring conditions are evolving in an ever-changing labor market.”