The labour market remains in a holding pattern, with layoffs still low and hiring sluggish. "The picture of the labour market from the claims data, as noisy as it has been in recent weeks, is one of at least stable labour market conditions," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead US economist at Oxford Economics. Claims are difficult to adjust for seasonal fluctuations around the year-end holiday season and the start of the year. Seasonal factors, the model that the government uses to iron out seasonal fluctuations from the data, had expected applications to increase by 45,652 last week. Labour market stasis was underscored by the Federal Reserve's (Fed) Beige Book report on Wednesday, which showed "employment was mostly unchanged" in early January.

Source: The Edge Markets January 15, 2026 14:03 UTC