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Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 to
a seasonally adjusted 234,000 for the week ended April 8, the
Labor Department said on Thursday. That was the third straight
weekly decline in claims and left them not too far from a
44-year low of 227,000 hit in February.
Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with
a healthy labor market, for 110 straight weeks. That is the
longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was
smaller. The labor market is near full employment, with the
unemployment rate close to a 10-year low of 4.5 percent.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time
applications for jobless benefits rising to 245,000 last week.
Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because
of the different timings of spring and Easter holidays.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, fell 3,000 to 247,250 last week. The low level of
claims suggests that a sharp slowdown in job growth in March was
an aberration and that the labor market continues to tighten.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 98,000 jobs last month, the fewest
since last May.
Thursday's claims report also showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid dropped 7,000 to
2.03 million in the week ended April 1. The four-week moving
average of the so-called continuing claims edged up 750 to 2.03
million.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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