The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose by 22,000 to 242,000 for the week ending Feb. 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts projected that 220,000 new applications would be filed.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs.

The four-week average, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, climbed by 8,500 to 224,000.

Some analysts say they expect layoffs ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency to show up in the report in the coming weeks.

  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Lol. All in the first MONTH.

    Imagine what this country is going to look like 4 years from now.

    Thanks conservatives, 3rd party voters, and non-voters. Really pulled a smart one this time.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      If it’s really only 22,000 in the first month, that’s still much lower than I expected.

      I’m sure it’ll go higher, but I’m still confused.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    Gee, I wonder fucking why. Couldn’t possibly be all the federal workers getting laid off.

  • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Don’t worry, I’m sure fElon will make unemployment benefits even more efficient, too. Streamline the process by removing benefits from unemployment and those freeloaders will have to be efficient by taking the first underpaying offer given to them. /s

  • lolola
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    1 day ago

    What do you think we’ll find out if we fuck around and create a huge mass of unemployed people with nothing to lose and a ton of free time on their hands

  • Erasmus@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Just wait until the results of the tariffs start hitting and companies begin cutting people to adjust for their ‘bottom lines’

    We saw some of that several years ago in Trumps first term but it will be much worse this time as inflation is higher and so are the tariffs.