🔥🔋🔥US unemployment claims rise more than expected, with potential tariff impact.🔥
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Department of Labor reported on Friday (2) that the US unemployment rate remained at 4.2% in April, repeating the March level and in line with analysts' projections from Broadcast Projections.
In the same report (payroll), the average hourly wage increased by 0.17% (or $0.06), reaching $36.06, in the monthly comparison for April. The change was below the market projection of an increase of 0.30%. In the annual comparison, there was a wage increase of 3.77% in April, also below the consensus of a gain of 3.90%.
The report, known as the payroll, also showed a downward revision in job creation numbers:
🧟♂️• March: from 228 thousand to 185 thousand
🧟♂️• February: from 117 thousand to 102 thousand
These numbers reinforce the signal of a gradual slowdown in job generation and wage pressure.
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📊 US unemployment claims rise more than expected, with potential tariff impact
The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims rose more than expected last week, which may indicate an increase in layoffs due to import tariffs, which weighed on the economy in the first quarter.
Initial unemployment claims increased by 18,000, to 241,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, in the week ending April 26, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecasted 224,000 claims for the last week.
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📉 Economy shrinks with import anticipation
The US economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time in three years, flooded by imports, as companies tried to avoid President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Economists predict that aggressive trade policy will result in a wave of job losses. The tariffs, which are expected to hurt domestic demand, are already leading some companies to reduce their workforce.
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✂️ UPS cuts 20 thousand jobs 🧟♂️
United Parcel Service announced on Tuesday that it would cut 20,000 jobs and close 73 facilities as part of a reduction plan in deliveries from Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Companies in general have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and are maintaining their workforces, although they remain cautious about increasing staff.
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📈 Continuing benefits also rise
The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, an indicator of hiring, increased by 83,000 to 1.916 million, seasonally adjusted, during the week ending April 19, the report showed.
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🧟♂️🏛️🧟♂️Decline in federal jobs worsens cut scenario
The number of US government employees fell for the fourth consecutive month in April, with a decrease of 8,500 jobs excluding the postal service, as President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk continue to make drastic cuts to the federal workforce.
With the recent reductions reported this Friday in the monthly employment report, federal government vacancies, excluding the postal service, have fallen by more than 23,000 so far this year.
This makes Trump the most aggressive president in reducing the federal workforce since Ronald Reagan, who oversaw a reduction of about 46,000 in early 1981.
Including postal service employees, jobs fell by 9,000 in April and by 26,000 so far in 2025.
The White House, citing a media report, said on Thursday that 200,000 federal employees had been laid off since Trump took office and put Musk in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with reducing the number of public servants.
DOGE itself has not yet provided its own numbers.
More than 75,000 federal employees have agreed to a form of exit called deferred retirement, but they will remain on the government payroll until the end of this year.
In total, more than 260,000 federal employees have been dismissed, accepted exit agreements, or retired early, according to a count by Reuters.
The betting site Kalshi currently predicts that Trump and Musk will cut about 300,000 federal employees by the end of the year from a workforce that exceeded 2.4 million at the end of 2024, according to government data.
If Trump's cuts come close to this, they will be classified as the largest reductions at the start of a new presidency since the Department of Labor began monitoring federal jobs in 1950, surpassing the current record of 195,000 during Dwight D. Eisenhower's first year in 1953.
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✅ Conclusion: The data released by the Department of Labor reinforces the growing concern about the secondary effects of import tariffs on the US labor market. In addition to the increase in unemployment claims and corporate cuts like those at UPS, the federal government — under Trump and Musk — has been promoting a historic reduction in public service. Meanwhile, wages are growing below expectations and job creation is revised downward. With the economy already contracted in the first quarter, upcoming employment data should be closely monitored.
