FILE – An employee demand sign at a restaurant in Arlington Heights, Ill., January 30, 2023. Unemployment insurance claims for the week ending February 4 rose by 13,000 to 196,000 from 183,000 the previous week, the Ministry of Labor reported Thursday, February 2. Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

U.S. jobless claims fell last week as the labor market remained accommodative to Federal Reserve interest rate hikes aimed at cooling the economy.

Claims for the week ending Feb. 18 fell 3,000 to 192,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Orders were below 200,000 for the sixth consecutive week.

The four-week moving average, which partly flattens weekly volatility, rose from 1,500 to 191,250, falling below 200,000 for the fifth week in a row.

Unemployment benefit claims are considered a proxy for the number of layoffs in the country.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Reserve raised its prime interest rate by 25 basis points, the eighth increase in less than a year. The central bank’s benchmark rate is in a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, the highest in 15 years. Its chairman, Jerome Powell, appeared to hint that he expects two more quarter-point increases.

So far, the Fed’s aggressive rate policy has moderated inflation somewhat, but had little impact on a strong labor market.

Two weeks ago, the government reported the creation, higher than expected, of 517,000 jobs in January and the drop in the unemployment rate to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969. Analysts were counting on the creation of some 185,000 jobs.

Job vacancies reached 11 million in December from 10.4 million in November, the highest number since July. For 18 consecutive months, employers posted at least 10 million job vacancies, a level not seen before 2021 in data dating back to 2000. In December, there were on average two job vacancies for every unemployed person.

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