The number of initial unemployment claims in the United States dropped to 213,000 last week, indicating a stable job market.

Last week, the number of initial jobless claims in the United States decreased, indicating that the labor market remained stable at the beginning of February. Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday showed that the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending February 8 was 213,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the revised level of the previous week, economists had expected 215,000. The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims was 216,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the revised level of the previous week. Since the beginning of this year, initial jobless claims have been declining, consistent with historically low layoff rates. This helps to support economic expansion and has prompted the Federal Reserve to pause its rate cuts while evaluating the impact of Trump administration policies. Economists believe that Trump's measures, such as mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, imposing tariffs on imports, and tax cuts, have inflationary effects. Last month, the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged at 4.25%-4.50%. Since initiating a period of monetary easing in September last year, the Federal Reserve has cut rates by a total of 100 basis points. In 2022 and 2023, the Federal Reserve had previously raised rates by a total of 525 basis points to suppress inflation. Although layoff rates are low, job opportunities for the unemployed are no longer as abundant as they were a year ago, with businesses generally taking a wait-and-see stance. In January, nonfarm payrolls increased by 143,000, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.0%. For the week ending February 1, continued jobless claims decreased by 36,000 to reach 1.85 million, the market had expected 1.882 million.