U.S. job losses remain below 200,000 for seventh straight week

March 2 (UPI) -- For the seventh week in a row, U.S. federal data showed the number of new filings for unemployment insurance remained below 200,000, indicating a strong labor market despite lingering inflationary pressures.

The Department of Labor on Thursday showed new claims declined by 2,000 from last week to reach 190,000 for the seven-day period ending Feb. 25. The less-volatile four-week moving average showed a decline of 1,750 for an unrevised average of 191,250.

The strength in the labor market comes amid what would normally be considered obvious headwinds. Manufacturing is on its back foot and home prices are on the decline. Officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve, meanwhile, have hinted at higher and longer rate hikes to control consumer-level inflation.

Despite the higher borrowing costs, consumers are still spending, though they may be starting to eat into their savings. Low-income taxpayers, meanwhile, may be faced with an uphill economic battle for the rest of the year after the pandemic-era supplementary, emergency allocations for SNAP, formerly called food stamps, ended on Wednesday.

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.5% in January after increasing by just 0.1% month-on-month to December. For just food, however, inflation is sharply higher than that. Federal data from earlier this month showed grocery prices are up 11.3% over the 12-month period to January.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in January that progress has been made in lowering inflation. The labor market, however, is stronger than he expected, suggesting the path to the Fed's target inflation rate of 2% will "take a significant amount of time."

Powell sits for his regular monetary policy update for the House and Senate next week.

Strong hires and wage growth continue to prop up demand and support consumer-level inflation. More than 517,000 jobs were added to start the new year. Job growth was "widespread" with the largest gains in leisure and hospitality, two of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.