The number of initial unemployment claims in the United States remained low last week, indicating that the job market is still in a "low hiring, low firing" pattern.

The number of initial jobless claims in the United States last week continued to remain at a low level, indicating that the scale of layoffs by businesses is still limited. Data released on Thursday showed that the number of initial jobless claims in the week ending July 4th was 215,000, lower than the market's general expectation of 218,000 and the revised previous value of 217,000; the number of continued jobless claims in the week ending June 27th was 1.814 million, lower than the market's general expectation of 1.815 million, but higher than the revised previous value of 1.806 million; the four-week moving average of initial jobless claims as of July 4th was 218,800, lower than the revised previous value of 222,500. After rising at the end of May and beginning of June, initial jobless claims have started to decline. Most economists believe that the previous increase was just noise. Despite a significant slowdown in nonfarm payroll growth in June, and downward revisions to nonfarm payroll data for April and May, economists believe that there has not been a substantial change in the labor market, which is still in a state of "slow hiring, slow firing." The steady low level of initial jobless claims also indicates that employers are still reluctant to engage in large-scale layoffs.