The U.S. labor market continues to show resilience, as evidenced by a recent decline in jobless claims. For the week ending January 4, initial jobless claims fell to 201,000, marking the lowest level since February of the previous year.
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This decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's 211,000 claims suggests that layoffs remain minimal. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out weekly volatility, also fell by 10,250 to 213,000. However, the total number of individuals receiving unemployment benefits increased slightly to 1.87 million at the end of December, indicating that while layoffs are low, some workers are experiencing longer periods of unemployment.
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