Jobless Claims Held Steady Last Week

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment fell to 268,000 last week as the labor market continues its steady recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 272,750, down 5,750 from the prior four-week average.

The number was above expectations of 260,000 and slightly below the revised 269,000 from the prior week.

The labor market has shown signs of strength lately, with jobless claims under 300,000 and 531,000 new jobs added in October. Meanwhile, revisions to prior months added more than 600,000 jobs beyond the original estimates.

Other economic data released this week suggest the economy has kicked on from its summer slump. Both retail sales and manufacturing output increased strongly in October.

“The economy has thrown off whatever lethargy it might have had in the summer, and it is growing quite strongly,” says economist Joel Naroff. “The truth is, growth didn’t really soften, it just eased back. That is a very normal pattern.”

The one fly in the ointment is inflation, which has been running at more than 6% annually as of October and is proving more sticky than officials anticipated earlier this year. Analysts now expect inflation to run considerably above the Federal Reserve Board’s 2% annual target in 2022 and maybe beyond, although mo