New jobless claims plummet to 199K, lowest level since 1969

The number of Americans newly seeking jobless benefits plummeted last week, falling past pre-pandemic levels — to the lowest point since 1969 — more than a year and a half after the start of the pandemic, the feds said Wednesday.

As of last week, initial filings for unemployment benefits, seen as a proxy for layoffs, fell to 199,000, down 71,000 from the prior week’s revised level of 270,000, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected to see new claims fall to 260,000, after seeing five consecutive weeks of decreases.

“Wow!” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said in response to the new report.

“It is fair to say that we didn’t see that coming. Getting new claims below the 200,000 level for the first time since the pandemic began is truly significant, portraying further improvement.”

Hamrick noted that the “strains associated with higher prices, shortages of supplies and available job candidates are weighed against low levels of layoffs, wage gains and a falling unemployment rate.” 

“Growth will likely be above par for the foreseeable future, but within the context of historically high inflation which should relax its grip on the economy to some degree in the year ahead,” he said.