the numbers the number of americans applying for unemployment benefits have topped 200000 for nine weeks in a row based on a change in how the government adjusts for seasonal swings in hiring in the seven days ended april 1 new jobless claims fell to 228000 from a revised 246000 in the prior week previously the government had estimated a scant 198000 new claims in the last week in march yet changes to the formula for seasonal adjustments now show jobless claims to be significantly higher early in 2023 than previously reported that might reflect as flurry of corporate layoffs that had not shown up in the data before the number of people applying for unemployment benefits is one of the best barometers of whether the economy is getting better or worse new unemployment filings are still quite low but not as low as it seemed economists polled by the wall street journal had forecast new claims to total 200000 in the seven days ending april 1 big picture wall street is watching jobless benefits closely because it’s one of the first indicators to emit warning signs when the us is headed toward recession the stilllow level of claims suggests the economy is outside the danger zone yet rising interest rates stillhigh inflation and more stress on the us financial system threaten to undermine growth and spawn more layoffs market reaction the dow jones industrial average djia and sp 500 spx were set to open lower in thursday trades