Macy’s has announced the devastating news of laying off 2,350 employees and closing five stores. This announcement has been made just as a new CEO is about to take over the company. Amidst this, there has been a drop in the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits, seeing its lowest level in more than a year. Despite increasing interest rates meant to slow down the economy, this marks the resilience of the labor market.

According to reports presented by the Labor Department, jobless claim applications slipped to 187,000 for the week ending Jan. 13. This marks a decrease of 16,000 from the week before, the least since September of 2022. The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, also fell by 4,750 to 203,250, the lowest four-week average in almost a year. In the week that ended Jan. 6, there were about 1.81 million Americans collecting jobless benefits, marking a decline of 26,000 from the previous week.

Weekly unemployment claims accurately reflect the number of U.S. layoffs occurring in a particular week. Mesmerizingly, they have been constant at extraordinarily low levels in spite of the high interest rates and elevated inflation.

In order to stay updated about the status of your unemployment claims or if you need any assistance, you can get in touch with EDD. You can refer to ‘how to get a hold of EDD’ for detailed methods of contacting them. EDD is responsible for the administration of unemployment insurance services, and they stick to their commitment of delivering these benefits effectively.