Hurricanes continue to impact on US figures

THE NUMBER of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, but the near-term outlook for the labour market was muddied by the continuing impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Other data on Thursday showed manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region accelerated in September amid a surge in new orders. But hiring by factories slowed and employees worked fewer hours this month compared to August.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended September 16, the Labor Department said. A Labor Department official said Harvey and Irma affected claims for Texas and Florida.

With Hurricane Maria lashing Puerto Rico this week, weather will likely continue to affect claims data and potentially hurt job growth in September. Texas and Florida account for about 14 per cent of US employment.

“The noise will overwhelm any signal in these data for several weeks,” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen told reporters on Wednesday that “payroll employment may be substantially affected in September” by the storms, but she added that she expected labour market conditions would “strengthen somewhat further.”