Weekly unemployment claims held near their lowest levels since the 1960s, with a strong labor market and improving levels of unemployment remaining a bright spot in the U.S. economy.
The Labor Department released its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday morning, and here are the main metrics compared with consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Initial jobless claims, week ended April 16: 184,000 versus 180,000 expected, and an upwardly revised 186,000 during prior week
Continuing claims, week ended April 9: 1.42 million versus 1.46 million expected, and an unrevised 1.47 million during prior week
First-time filings for unemployment benefits remained below 200,000 for a ninth consecutive week. As of last week, the four-week moving average for new jobless claims, which smooths out volatility in the weekly data, stood at just 177,250. Throughout 2019 before the pandemic, new claims averaged about 218,000 per week. And last month, jobless claims reached their lowest level since 1968 at 166,000.
Continuing claims, which tally the number of Americans collecting benefits for multiple weeks, have also declined sharply to reach multi-decade lows. These came in below 1.5 million for a back-to-back week to reach their lowest level since 1970.
The weekly jobless claims data have served as an ongoing reminder of the tightness in the current labor market. Job openings have far outpaced new hires — a phenomenon many companies this quarterly earnings season have been quick to acknowledge.
Click here to view the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.
