Analysis: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Slightly Decline, Indicating Mild Layoff Scale

Odaily News The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell last week, indicating that corporate layoffs remain limited. The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that for the week ending March 7, initial jobless claims were 213,000, lower than the previous week's 214,000 and also below the market expectation of 215,000. The number of continuing jobless claims for the week ending February 28 dropped to 1.85 million, down from 1.87 million the previous week. The release of Thursday's initial claims data came after the U.S. Department of Labor last week reported a weaker-than-expected employment report, showing a loss of 92,000 jobs last month, compared to an increase of 126,000 jobs in January. However, the relatively mild initial claims data suggests that businesses are more inclined to retain employees rather than implement large-scale layoffs. (Jin10)