The number of initial jobless claims in the United States has decreased, while the employment market is becoming more polarized.

On August 14, the number of initial unemployment claims in the U.S. decreased under the backdrop of low layoffs last week, but due to weak domestic demand, companies are reluctant to increase hiring, which may push the unemployment rate in August up to 4.3%. The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Thursday that for the week ending August 9, initial unemployment claims decreased by 3,000, seasonally adjusted to 224,000. The U.S. labor market currently shows a divergent state of few layoffs and weak hiring.

In the past three months, the average monthly increase in employment in the United States was only 35,000, and domestic demand grew at its slowest pace since the fourth quarter of 2022 in the second quarter. Lou Crandall, chief analyst at Wrightson ICAP, stated, "Isolated, these (initial jobless claims) data would suggest that the employment market remains strong. However, we are more concerned about the weak trend in employment data over the past three months, which clearly indicates a different situation."