Low jobless claims indicate US companies are not worried about state of economy

Although the U.S. economy have slowed in the first quarter, businesses aren’t worrying much: Layoffs remain near a 15-year low.

The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped by 9,000 to 282,000 in the seven days from March 15 to March 21, signaling that firms are holding onto their workers despite what appears to be a marked slowdown in first-quarter growth.

New claims have tracked below 300,000 for three straight weeks after a weather-induced spike in February that pushed them to the highest level since last spring. They are now running about 9% lower compared to 2014.

At the mean, new claims over the past four weeks declined below the key 300,000 threshold for the first time since late February. The four-week average dropped by 7,750 to 297,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The monthly number shows a better look at underlying labor-market trends by smoothing out big swings in the more up-and-down weekly report.

New jobless claims tend to range at or below 300,000 when hiring is strong and layoffs dwindle.

Over the past year, the U.S. has posted the fastest job creation since the late 1990s, partly making up for an unusually slow pace of hiring in the first few years of an economic recovery after the Great Recession ended in mid-2009.

Although a series of reports suggest the economy will show weak growth in the first three months of 2015, firms continue to hire at an accelerated pace. Analysts polled by MarketWatch predict gross domestic product in the first quarter will taper off to 1.7% from 2.2% in the fourth quarter — and some are expecting an even softer number.

While harsh winter weather gets some blame, the soaring value of the dollar DXY and less business investment in energy-intensive states hit hard by the plunge in oil prices have also cut into growth. A strong greenback raises the cost of American-made goods and services on the international market and makes it harder for U.S. businesses to export.

In the meantime, the authorities said continuing claims decreased by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.42 million in the week ended March 14. These claims reflect the number of people already receiving regular unemployment checks, but they don’t account for unemployed workers who have exhausted benefits or stopped looking for jobs.