The numbers: The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in early January fell for the fifth week in a row, giving a clean bill of health to strong U.S. labor market as 2020 got underway.
New claims soared last week in California and also rose sharply in Texas and Missouri, but those increases were more than offset by big declines in New York, Wisconsin and South Carolina. The number of people already collecting unemployment benefits, known as continuing claims, decreased by 37,000 to 1.77 million. Last week it hit the highest level since April. Big picture: Despite scattered reports of jobs cuts, many companies are still hiring and few are laying off employees. The economy added 145,000 new jobs in December, keeping the unemployment rate at 50-year low of 3.5%.