More Great News About The US Job Market
Initial weekly unemployment claims fell to 280,000 from 289,000 a week ago.
This was lower than the 290,000 expected by economists.
"There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims," the Department of Labor said.
The 4-week moving average declined to 290,250 from 298,750 a week ago.
"The four-week moving average of initial claims has been below the 300k threshold for over three months, a sign that involuntary separations are at their nadir," Nomura economists said ahead of the report.
Continuing claims climbed to 2.403 million from 2.378 million a week ago.
Jobless claims correlated inversely with new nonfarm payrolls. In other words, falling claims is a good sign for job growth. Check out this chart from Bloomberg chief economist Michael McDonough.
