U.S. Jobless Claims Rise Slightly

By Matt Grossman

U.S. initial jobless claims climbed last week, according to the Department of Labor, but remained close to recent levels.

In the week through April 19 there were 222,000 initial jobless claims, compared with 216,000 a week earlier. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had been forecasting 220,000 initial claims.

The number of continuing claims, a gauge of the size of the unemployed population, fell to 1.84 million in the week through April 12, compared with 1.88 million the week before. The continuing-claims data lag the data on new filings by a week.

Economists consider the weekly jobless-claims data one of the timeliest windows into the health of the labor market. So far in 2025, the claims figures have stayed in a narrow range, indicating that the economy hasn't seen a big uptick in layoffs.

Darkening economic sentiment as seen in surveys has raised concerns that consumers and businesses could pull back in the face of heightened policy uncertainty, potentially slowing the economy. But few hints of a slowdown have turned up in labor-market data so far.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com