New claims for USA unemployment insurance benefits edged up slightly last week but remained near a 42-year low, as the U.S. jobs market remains firm.
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TBIInitial jobless claims climbed to 260,000 from 259,000 a week ago.
This was a bit better than the 265,000 expected by economist. The previous week, claims stood at an unrevised level of 259,000. Job growth did drop off in the third quarter of 2015, but it did not trigger widespread layoffs. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday noted that the pace of job gains had slowed, but said “under-utilisation of labour resources has diminished since early this year”.
263,000 last week. A Labour Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the data.
The monthly average smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly report and is seen as a more accurate predictor of labor-market trends. That was the lowest level since November 2000.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended October 17 fell to 2.144 million from 2.181 million in the preceding week.
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The four-week moving average of continuing claims also slid to a almost fifteen-year low of 2,174,750, a decrease of 12,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 2,187,500.
