New initial jobless claims improved much more than expected last week to reach the lowest level in more than five decades, further pointing to the tightness of the present labor market as many employers seek to retain workers.
The Labor Department released its weekly jobless claims report on Thursday. Here were the main metrics from the report compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
- Initial unemployment claims, week ended Dec. 4: 184,000 versus 220,000 expected, and an upwardly revised 227,000 during prior week
- Continuing claims, week ended Nov. 27: 1.99 million versus 1.910 million expected, and a downwardly revised 1.95 million during prior week
Jobless claims decreased once more after a brief tick higher in late November. At 184,000, initial jobless claims were at their lowest level since Sept. 1969.
“The consensus always looked a bit timid, in light of the behavior of unadjusted claims in the week after Thanksgiving in previous years when the holiday fell on the 25th, but the drop this time was much bigger than in those years, and bigger than implied by the recent trend,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics. “A correction next week seems likely, but the trend in claims clearly is falling rapidly, reflecting the extreme tightness of the labor market and the rebound in GDP growth now underway.”
To see the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance click here.
