The number of initial jobless claims in the United States decreased slightly, but the scale of layoffs remains limited

The number of initial jobless claims in the United States last week changed little, indicating that the scale of layoffs by enterprises remains limited.

Bloomberg reported that as of the week ending July 4th (covering the Independence Day holiday in the US), the number of first-time unemployed claims in the US decreased by 2,000 to 215,000. The Bloomberg survey of economists showed the median expectation to be 217,000.

According to data released by the US Department of Labor on Thursday (July 9th), the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose slightly to 1.81 million in the previous week.

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time remained at a low level, indicating that employers are still reluctant to carry out large-scale layoffs.

However, the June non-farm payroll report indicated that the hiring pace slowed down that month, which slightly dampened the recent strong momentum of the labor market.

The report also shows that many Americans have left the labor market, and this change might be one of the reasons why the number of initial unemployment claims remains low.