U.S. jobless claims set a more than 50-year low last week as the red-hot labor market shows few signs of cooling in the near-term.
The Labor Department released its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday morning and here are the main metrics compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
- Initial jobless claims, week ended March 19: 187,000 versus 210,000 expected, and a revised 215,000 during prior week
- Continuing claims, week ended March 12: 1.35 million versus 1.4 million expected, and a revised 1.42 million during prior week
At 187,000, new jobless claims improved for a back-to-back week and reached the lowest level since September 1969. Continuing claims also fell further to reach 1.35 million – the least since January 1970.
The labor market has remained a point of strength in the U.S. economy, with job openings still elevated but coming down from record levels as more workers rejoin the labor force from the sidelines.
“Net, net, no one is losing their job, with companies holding on tight to their workers despite the worrying signs of recession on the horizon from rising gasoline prices, stock market corrections and the horrific World War II photos coming out of Europe,” Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS, wrote in an email. “No wonder worker wages are soaring as company managers offer carrots where they used to give out sticks. The omicron variant is having no impact on the labor market and the anecdotal reports of massive labor market shortages are very, very real.”
To see the full report from Emily McCormick in Yahoo Finance, click here.