According to the weekly statistics that were released by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday, there were around 228,000 initial unemployment claims filed in the week that ended on April 1. This report came in lower than the market expectation of 200,000 and followed the previous week’s estimate of 246,000 (which was corrected from 191,000).

Applications for unemployment benefits in the United States reached a three-month high last week, which is a sign that the labor market is beginning to loosen its grip after a wave of layoffs at technology businesses. According to figures released by the Labor Department on Wednesday, the U.S. jobless claims rose by 17,000 to a total of 240,000. According to the results of a study conducted by Bloomberg with economists, the median estimate was 225,000.