US Labour Market Remains Resilient as Jobless Claims Fall to 8-Month Low

Unemployment claims fell below 200K last week which once again confirms that the jobs sector is in great shape

Skerdian Meta•Friday, October 20, 2023•1 min read

The trend remains down for US jobless claims

Since the summer, claims have generally declined, but some economists are concerned that the trend may shift. The number of announced layoffs has increased recently, suggesting that the trend of declining claims may soon reverse. However, the reading for jobless claims from Wednesday was the lowest weekly total since January 21.

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the weekly unemployment claims for the period ending on October 14th were a seasonally adjusted 198,000. That was less than the Dow Jones prediction of 210,000 and represented a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week. The number of initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased last week, suggesting that the job market in the United States is still tight and may be contributing to the ongoing inflation.

US Initial Jobless and Continuing Claims for Last Week

Weekly initial jobs claims 198K versus 212K expected
Prior week jobless claims 209K (revised to 211K)
The 4-week moving average initial jobless claims 205.75K vs. 206.25k last week
Continuing claims 1734K vs 1710K expected
Prior week continuing claims 1702K
The 4-week MA of continuing claims is at 1694K vs last week’s 1674K

Applications for unemployment benefits are viewed as a stand-in for layoffs. Claims’ four-week moving average, which smoothes out some of the volatility from week to week, decreased by 1,000 to 205,750. The week ending October 7 saw 1.73 million persons overall receiving unemployment benefits, which is almost 29,000 more than the week before.

Last week, the number of applications for unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest point in eight months as companies kept their employees in spite of higher interest rates intended to chill the job market and economy.

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Skerdian Meta

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Skerdian Meta Lead Analyst. Skerdian is a professional Forex trader and a market analyst. He has been actively engaged in market analysis for the past 11 years. Before becoming our head analyst, Skerdian served as a trader and market analyst in Saxo Bank's local branch, Aksioner. Skerdian specialized in experimenting with developing models and hands-on trading. Skerdian has a masters degree in finance and investment.