The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose last week, but layoffs remain at historically low levels.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 221,000 in the week of Nov. 2. That’s less than analysts’ forecast of 227,000.

The four-week average of weekly claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week fluctuations, fell 9,750 to 227,250.

Weekly jobless claims are considered representative of U.S. layoffs in a given week.

Continuing with claims, the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits rose by 39,000 to 1.89 million in the week to October 26. This is the highest since the end of 2021.

In response to weaker employment data and lower consumer prices, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point in September as the central bank shifted its focus from taming inflation to supporting the labor market. The Fed is hoping to execute a rare “soft landing,” in which it reduces inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.

It was the Fed’s first rate cut in four years, following a series of hikes starting in 2022 that pushed the federal funds rate to a two-decade high of 5.3 percent.

The Fed is expected to announce later Thursday that it cut its benchmark lending rate by another quarter of a point.

Inflation has retreated steadily, moving closer to the Fed’s 2 percent target and prompting Chairman Jerome Powell to say recently that it is largely under control.

Last week, the government reported that an inflation gauge is being watched closely by the Fed dropped to its lowest level in three and a half years.

In the first four months of 2024, claims for jobless benefits averaged just 213,000 a week before picking up in May. They hit 250,000 in late July, supporting the idea that high interest rates have finally cooled a red-hot U.S. labor market.

In October, the US economy produced 12,000 poor jobsthough economists pointed to recent strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off the payroll.

In August, the Labor Department reported that the US economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 to March of this year than originally reported. The revised total was also seen as evidence that the labor market has steadily slowed, forcing the Fed to start cutting interest rates. 2021.

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