WASHINGTON — U.S. applications for jobless benefits tumbled to the lowest level in more than five decades last week as layoffs remain historically low despite global economic uncertainty.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the week ending July 18 declined by 22,000 to 187,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the fewest number of weekly applications since the week ending Sept. 6, 1969, according to Labor Department data.
It’s also well below the 215,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.
Despite surging oil prices resulting from the U.S.’s military attack on Iran, the American job market remains healthy and layoffs historically low. However, analysts say a prolonged war and higher than normal energy costs could eventually chip away at that, forcing companies to reduce costs by lowering head counts.
“The economic crisis caused by the energy supply shock is not over yet,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Trading. “But the labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices.”
The price for a barrel of U.S. crude surged nearly 5% early Thursday to more than $91. That’s the highest level in about six weeks. Gas prices in the U.S. are also back up above $4 a gallon on average. That not only squeezes consumers’ budgets, but also hits businesses hard, especially those which are heavily dependent on fuel.
In its expansive June jobs report earlier this month, the government reported that employers pulled back on hiring, adding only 57,000 jobs. That’s less than half the previous month’s total and a sign that companies remain cautious about adding to their head counts. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though that decline is mostly because many out-of-work people gave up looking for jobs and were no longer counted as unemployed.
June’s tepid hiring comes after a relative surge in job gains the previous three months, countering concerns that the war in Iran could trip up an already wobbly labor market.
Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.
Among the companies that have trimmed their workforce recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.
Earlier this month Microsoft said it was cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce, including a large number of workers at its Xbox video game business.
Thursday’s layoffs data showed that the four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims, which adjusts for volatility, fell by 7,250 to 207,500.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending July 11 was down by 2,000 to just under 1.8 million, also a historically healthy figure.
