Applications for layoff benefits by United States workers remained at a low level last week, a sign that the jobs market continues to tighten, Labor Department data showed Thursday. Economists polled by the MarketWatch had expected claims to fall to 270,000 in the seven days running from November 8 to November 14.
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The number of people that are receiving benefits was mostly unchanged, at 2.18 million.
Businesses appear to have been mostly unfazed by a weaker economy in the July-September quarter, when growth slowed to just 1.5 per cent at an annual pace.
BIG PICTURE: Hiring is typically healthy when applications are so low. Employers added 271,000 jobs in October, the largest monthly gain this year.
Another reading was the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate, which was unchanged at 1.6% from the previous week’s unrevised rate. This is the continuing jobless claims, and it comes with a one-week lag. Georgia’s 2.3 percent growth in jobs over the past year exceeded the USA average of 2 percent in the past 12 months.
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As part of its dual mandate, the Fed is looking to see consistent improvement in the labor market before raising interest rates for the first time since 2006. “Firms are holding on to employees”, perhaps because they worry people they have lost, “willingly or unwillingly, will be very hard to replace”, he said. That’s the highest level in eight weeks but still an extremely low number.
