U.S. applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week, a sign that the labor market remains healthy as companies continue to retain their employees. Jobless claim filings ticked down by 1,000 to 224,000 for the week ending March 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s mostly in line with the 225,000 new applications analysts forecast. Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years. It remains unclear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” will show up in the weekly layoffs report, though the Labor Department’s February jobs report showed that the federal government shed 10,000 jobs.
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