U.S. Jobless Claims Dip More Than Expected To 207,000
(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected in the week ended January 25th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 207,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 223,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 220,000.
"Initial claims surprised to the downside in the week ended January 25, as the recent increase in claims in California likely related to the fires in Los Angeles was largely reversed," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics
The report also said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 212,500, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 213,500.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell by 42,000 to 1.858 million in the week ended January 18th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still crept up to 1,872,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,866,000.
The jobless claims data continue to be consistent with a labor market characterized by low layoffs and a slow pace of hiring," said Vanden Houten.
She added, "Despite the low hiring rate, the Fed thinks the labor market is healthy enough to withstand a slower pace of rate cuts, lending some risk to our forecast for three cuts this year."
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