Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jobless-benefit claims hit 7-week low
Filings for unemployment benefits in the U.S. last week declined to a seven-week low as hiring managers demonstrated confidence in the outlook after temporary adjustments around the Christmas holidays.
Unemployment claims dropped by 16,000 to 269,000 in the week that ended Saturday a Labor Department report showed Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 280,000.
With staffing additions probably slowing this year as the labor market makes it tougher to attract skilled workers, employers are showing little appetite to reduce head counts. A muted level of dismissals shows sales are holding up for companies even as the global economy and financial markets weaken.
“The labor market is entering a bit of a sweet spot,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy head of U.S. research and strategy at TD Securities LLC in New York. “They’re not going to have a hiring spree, because there’s still uncertainty. Neither are you going to have a firing binge anytime soon because there is still demand out there and businesses need to meet that demand.”
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey of 48 economists ranged from 268,000 to 300,000. Claims in the previous week were unrevised at 285,000.
No states were estimated last week and there was nothing unusual in the data.
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, fell to 281,250 from 284,750 in the previous week.
The number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits dropped by 21,000 to 2.24 million in the week that ended Jan. 30.
Claims since the beginning of March have held below the 300,000 level that economists say is consistent with strength in the job market.
On the hiring side of the labor equation, payrolls rose 151,000 in January and the unemployment rate dropped to an almost eight-year low of 4.9 percent. Further tightening in the labor market prompted hourly earnings to rise more than estimated after climbing in the year ending in December by the most since July 2009.
Abrupt financial jolts stemming from a Chinese growth slowdown and adjustments to market regulation have nonetheless shaken some confidence in the outlook.