U.S. employers added a record number of jobs in 2021, a gauge of layoffs fell to a half-century low and available positions surged, but the pace of the labor market’s strong recovery could slow early next year due to the uncertainty posed by the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Applications for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, have trended near five-decade lows in recent weeks. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimate that jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 25 will hold steady at a seasonally adjusted 205,000 applications. That would be just above the 188,000 recorded earlier in December, the lowest level since 1969.
