A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a slight uptick by initial jobless claims in the U.S. in the week ended December 16th.
The Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits crept up to 205,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 203,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 215,000 from the 202,000 originally reported for the previous week.
"Looking past seasonal noise, initial claims remain at levels consistent with relatively few layoffs," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average dipped to 212,000, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 213,500.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also edged down by 1,000 to 1.865 million in the week ended December 9th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still rose to 1.878 million from the previous week's revised level of 1.872 million, reaching the highest level since December 2021.
"The claims data - along with other recent labor market statistics - are consistent with a job market that is cooling but not freezing," said Vanden Houten. "Wage growth is slowing but is still too rapid to be consistent with 2% inflation."
She added, "We expect a further slowdown in employment to put downward pressure on wage growth and inflation, allowing the Fed start cutting rates next year, with a risk that rate cuts may come sooner than Q3, which is our current forecast."
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December 12, 2025 15:14 ET Central bank decisions dominated the economic news flow this week led by the Federal Reserve. Trade data from the U.S. also gained attention. The Canadian and Swiss central banks also announced their interest rate decisions. Inflation data from China was in focus as the country released the latest consumer price and producer price data.