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U.S. workers filed 245,000 initial claims for state unemployment
benefits during the week that ended Dec. 23, according to
seasonally adjusted figures published by the Labor Department on
Thursday. Data for the prior week was unrevized.
Since mid-October, claims have been confined to a range of
223,000 to 252,000.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims edging down to
240,000 in the latest week. Last week marked the 147th straight
week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is
associated with a strong labor market. That is the longest such
stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller.
The labor market is widely seen as near full employment, with
the jobless rate at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent. Labor market
tightness and a strengthening economy encouraged the Federal
Reserve to increase interest rates earlier this month for a
third time this year. The U.S. central bank has forecast three
rate hikes for 2018.
The economy added 228,000 jobs in November, well above the
roughly 100,000 jobs per month needed to keep up with growth in
the working-age population.
The Labor Department said claims-taking procedures continued to
be disrupted in the Virgin Islands months after Hurricanes Irma
and Maria battered the islands. The processing of claims in
Puerto Rico was still not back to normal.
Last week, the four-week moving average of initial claims, which
is seen as a measure of labor market trends because it irons out
week-to-week volatility, rose 1,750 to 237,750.
The claims report also showed the number of people receiving
benefits after an initial week of aid increased 7,000 to 1.94
million in the week ended Dec. 16. The four-week moving average
of the so-called continuing claims fell 4,250 to 1.92 million.
(Reporting by Jason LangeEditing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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