WASHINGTON — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in more than three years during Thanksgiving week, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve's upcoming decision on interest rates.
The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits for the week ending Nov. 29 fell to 191,000 from the previous week's 218,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That's the lowest level since September 24, 2022, when claims came in at 189,000. Analysts surveyed by the data provider FactSet had forecast initial claims of 221,000.
Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said that unemployment benefit filings are often distorted by the Thanksgiving holiday, which can cause some people who may have lost jobs to delay filing claims.
Still, the low claims figure also suggests that overall layoffs remain muted, despite the high-profile announcements. Hiring is also sluggish, which makes finding a job for those out of work challenging.
''The labor market is kind of frozen,'' Bostjancic said. ''Companies are in wait-and-see mode.''
Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The job cuts announced recently by large companies such as UPS, General Motors, Amazon and Verizon typically take weeks or months to fully implement and may not be reflected in Thursday's data.
For now, the U.S. job market appears stuck in a ''low-hire, low-fire'' state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low.
On Wednesday, private payroll data firm ADP estimated U.S. job losses of 32,000 in November. The surprisingly weak report may be discouraging for people looking for jobs, but it bolstered expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate next week.
