US jobless aid filings fall to 189,000 despite economic headwinds and war in Iran
U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell 26,000 to 189,000 in the week ending April 25, the Labor Department reported Thursday; up from 215,000 the previous week. That’s well below the 214,000 new app analysts surveyed by data firm FactSet expected.
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Unemployment claims are considered an indicator of layoffs in the U.S. and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
The Iran war, now in its ninth week, has created a great deal of uncertainty about how it will affect the US and global economies even if Iran and the US remain under a ceasefire agreement.
US financial markets have rebounded to near record levels and barrel prices of US crude oil remain high around US$104 per barrel. This is better than 112 USD at the beginning of this month, but still 50 percent higher than before the war started. Gasoline prices are also much higher since the war began — AAA says the national average was $4.30 per gallon as of Thursday; This situation imposes higher costs on businesses and consumers.
The largest monthly increase in gas prices in six decades caused consumer prices to rise 3.3 percent in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department recently reported. This marks a sharp increase from just 2.4 percent in February, which was the biggest annual increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices have increased by 0.9 percent since February, the biggest increase in nearly four years.
This comes at a time when U.S. inflation was already above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. The Fed on Wednesday opted to leave its benchmark interest rate where it was, citing economic uncertainty caused by instability in the Middle East and persistently high inflation.
Low interest rates can stimulate the economy and hiring, but they can also fuel inflation.
Fed officials decided to cut interest rates three times to close out 2025 due to concerns about the weakening employment market.
The Labor Department reported earlier this month that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly strong 178,000 new jobs in March, and the unemployment rate fell back to 4.3 percent. This follows a staggering 92,000 job losses in February. The revisions also cut 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls; This is a sign that the labor market remains under pressure.
Several high-profile companies have recently announced layoffs, including Morgan Stanley, Block, UP S, Amazon, and several other tech companies.
Weekly jobless claims have mostly stabilized in the 200,000 to 250,000 range since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. But hiring began to slow about two years ago and declines further in 2025 due to the lingering effects of President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff impositions, purges of the federal workforce and higher interest rates aimed at containing inflation.
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Employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs last year, compared with about 1.5 million in 2024, according to data firm FactSet.
The American labor market appears to be stuck in what economists call a “low-hiring, low-fire” situation that keeps the unemployment rate historically low but leaves the unemployed struggling to find a new job. The recent artificial intelligence boom and the investment required to develop it also makes companies reluctant to hire.
The Labor Department’s report on Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, offsetting some of the weekly volatility, came in at 207,500, about 3,500 points lower than the previous week.
The total number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in the previous week ending April 18 decreased by 23,000 to 1.79 million.
