Jobless Claims Rose Last Week

By Matt Grossman

More Americans filed for initial jobless benefits last week, according to the Department of Labor.

The week through Feb. 1 brought 219,000 initial jobless claims, compared with 208,000 a week earlier. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had been forecasting 214,000 initial claims.

The number of continuing claims, a gauge of the size of the unemployed population, increased to 1.89 million in the week through Jan. 25, compared with 1.85 million the week before. The continuing-claims data lag the data on new filings by a week.

Continuing claims have drifted higher over the past 12 months, but the unemployment-benefits data haven't shown signs of a sharp deterioration. That has come alongside other signals that while the labor market has weakened from the postpandemic boom, it has stabilized since last summer.

Friday's January jobs report brings another important update. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal have forecast that the economy added 169,000 jobs last month, and that the unemployment rate stayed steady at a modest 4.1%.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com.