US Weekly Jobless Claims Fall To 263K, Lowest Reading Since July

Washington (Oct 8)  First-time weekly jobless claims in the U.S. fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 263,000 during the week to Saturday, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The data was much lower than expectations as consensus forecasts compiled by various news organizations called for initial claims to be around 274,000. The previous week's data was revised down by 1,000 claims to 276,000.

According to reports, this is the lowest level in jobless claims in mid-July.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for new claims – often viewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it evens out week-to-week volatility – fell by 3,000 claims to 267,500.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims, the Labor Department said.

Continuing jobless claims, the number of people already receiving benefits and reported with a one-week delay, rose by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.2 million during the week ending Sept. 26. According to the report this is the lowest level for continuing claims since November 2000.

According to the report, the labor market has seen a marked improvement compared to last year. The data shows that this time last year weekly initial claims were at 289,000.

However, the report comes almost a week after September’s nonfarm payrolls report, which showed that only 142,000 jobs were created last month, well below expectations for job growth of 200,000. July and August employment numbers were also revised lower by a total of 59,000 jobs. September was the third consecutive month the official payrolls data has missed expectations.

Source: KitcoNews