Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 212,000 in the week ended Feb. 21, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 215,000 claims for last week.
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On 26 February 2026, 02:30 AM IST
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Last week’s claims include the President’s Day holiday, which may have affected the data. Still, the level of claims suggested the labor market continued to stabilize after hitting a soft patch last year amid uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
The US Supreme Court last Friday struck down the tariffs, which Trump had pursued under the National Emergency Use Act. Trump quickly imposed 10% global tariffs for 150 days to replace some emergency duties, before raising the rate to 15% over the weekend.
Economists said the latest move creates near-term uncertainty, but expected minimal economic impact.
Uncertainty lingering from invalid import duties has since been blamed for a general reluctance in businesses to increase hiring. The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is also adding another layer of caution, economists said.
The number of people receiving unemployment benefits, a proxy for hiring, fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.833 million in the week ended Feb. 14 after the initial week of aid, the claims report showed. The so-called continuous claims covered the period during which the government surveyed households for the February unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent in January from 4.4 percent in December. While the labor market is regaining its footing, consumers remain concerned about their employment prospects.
A Conference Board survey this week showed that the share of consumers who viewed jobs as “hard to find” rose to a five-year high in February, although householders also believed the availability of jobs had improved.
The average unemployment rate is near a four-year high, and job opportunities for young college graduates are scarce, labor market data show.
Unemployed recent college graduates do not show up in claims data because they have limited or no work history, making them ineligible to file for unemployment benefits.
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