U.S. Jobless Claims Dropped to 232,000 Last Week
17 August 2017 - 2:03PM
Dow Jones News
By By Ben Leubsdorf
WASHINGTON--The number of Americans filing new applications for
unemployment benefits dropped last week from already low levels, a
sign of health in the U.S. labor market.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S.,
declined by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 232,000 in the week
ended Aug. 12, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was the
lowest level since February and the second-lowest weekly reading
since 1973.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected
240,000 new claims last week. Initial claims for the week ended
Aug. 5 were left unrevised at 244,000.
Data on jobless claims are volatile. The more-stable four-week
moving average was 240,500 last week, down by 500 from the prior
week.
Initial claims have hovered in a historically low range for
several years. They have remained below 300,000 for 128 consecutive
weeks, the longest such streak since 1970--when the U.S. population
and workforce were far smaller than they are today.
More broadly, the American job market is on solid footing. The
unemployment rate in July was 4.3%, matching its lowest level since
2001. Nonfarm payrolls rose by an average of 184,000 per month in
the first seven months of 2017, little changed from last year's
monthly average of 187,000 net new jobs.
Also on Thursday, the Labor Department said continuing
unemployment claims, reflecting benefits drawn by workers for
longer than a week, fell by 3,000 to 1.953 million in the week
ended Aug. 5. Data on continuing claims are released with a
one-week lag.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2017 08:48 ET (12:48 GMT)
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