---
title: "The labor market remains resilient! The number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly fell to a new low in over a month last week"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/276340444.md"
description: "The number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending February 14 fell to 206,000, the lowest level since January 10, and below the market expectation of 225,000. The number of continuing claims for unemployment benefits was 1.869 million, higher than expected. This data indicates that the U.S. labor market remains resilient, which may dampen investors' expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut. Inflation concerns have risen due to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, and Federal Reserve officials' views on the inflation outlook suggest that the pace and timing of inflation decline remain uncertain"
datetime: "2026-02-19T13:47:14.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/276340444.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276340444.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/276340444.md)
---

> Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/276340444.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/276340444.md)


# The labor market remains resilient! The number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly fell to a new low in over a month last week

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, data released on Thursday showed that the number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending February 14 fell to 206,000, the lowest level since the week of January 10, below the market expectation of 225,000 and the revised previous value of 229,000. The number of continuing jobless claims in the United States for the week ending February 7 was 1.869 million, higher than the market expectation of 1.86 million and the revised previous value of 1.852 million; the four-week average of initial jobless claims for the week ending February 14 was 219,000, slightly lower than the revised previous value of 220,000. This latest initial jobless claims data indicates that the U.S. labor market remains resilient.

As inflation concerns resurface, this employment data is expected to dampen investor expectations for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran have already led to rising oil prices, raising concerns about inflation. The latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes indicate that regarding the inflation outlook, Federal Reserve officials expect inflation to trend down towards 2%, but the pace and timing of the decline remain uncertain. The impact of tariffs on core commodity prices may begin to weaken this year. Most officials at the meeting warned that progress towards the 2% inflation target may be slower and more uneven than generally expected, and the risk of inflation remaining persistently above the target cannot be ignored. Some officials also suggested that sustained demand pressures could keep inflation elevated

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