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The
data released on Thursday provides a more upbeat check on the
health of the labor market after last week's monthly employment
report increased doubts the Federal Reserve would raise interest
rates by the end of this year.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to
a seasonally adjusted 263,000 for the week ended Oct. 3, the
Labor Department said.
That was the lowest since mid-July when the number of claims was
at its lowest since 1973. Hitting such a historical low is
remarkable considering the U.S. workforce has grown considerably
since the 1970s.
It was also the 31st straight week that claims remained below
the 300,000 threshold, which is usually associated with a
strengthening labor market. The Labor Department said there were
no special factors impacting last week's claims.
Claims for the prior week were revised lower by 1,000.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a more modest decline
in claims to 274,000 last week.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, dropped 3,000 to 267,500.
While businesses appear to have little reason to let workers go
these days, they have been less eager to add new hires. U.S.
employers added just 142,000 jobs to their payrolls in September
and 136,000 in August, which was well below the averages in
prior months of about 200,000 new jobs added every month.
The slowdown in hiring has boosted expectations the Fed will
wait until early next year to raise interest rates for the first
time in a decade.
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid rose by 9,000 to
2.20 million in the week ended Sept. 26.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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