US Weekly Jobless Claims Fall to 290,000
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of new applications for unemployment benefits dropped to 290,000 last week. This marks the lowest number of weekly jobless claims since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.
While pre-pandemic trends have yet to be reached, the data does show that the labor market is recovering as more Americans are finding work and fewer are being laid off.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
US weekly jobless claims slide to 290,000 — setting a fresh pandemic-era lowFilings for unemployment insurance slid again last week, placing them at another pandemic-era low.
Jobless claims reached 290,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a slight increase to 300,000 claims. The print marked a third consecutive decline.
The previous week's total was revised to 296,000 from 293,000.
Continuing claims — which count Americans filing for ongoing unemployment insurance benefits — dipped to 2.48 million for the week that ended October 9. That beat the median estimate of 2.55 million claims....
From the Left
Weekly jobless claims fall to fresh pandemic-era low of 290,000New weekly jobless claims held below 300,000 for a back-to-back week as labor market conditions trudged back toward pre-pandemic levels.
The Labor Department released its jobless claims report Thursday morning. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Last week's initial unemployment claims fell by a greater-than-expected margin, bringing the number of new filings back to the lowest level since March 2020. The four-week moving average for new jobless claims also dropped by 15,250 to reach 319,750 as of last week, also marking the least...
From the Right
Jobless claims fall to 290,000, lowest since start of pandemicThe number of new applications for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 last week to 290,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
In a positive sign for the economic recovery, Thursday’s jobless claims number was less than forecasters’ expectations of 300,000. It also represents the fewest weekly claims for unemployment since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
"All this signals that most employers don’t need or want to shed workers. It is quite the contrary with job openings remarkably high," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate. "With the nation’s unemployment rate at 4.8%,...
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