US Weekly Jobless Claims Below Key 400,000 Mark For 10th Week Running - Labor Dept.

US jobless claims were at 326,000 last week, remaining below the key 400,000 level for a tenth week in a row in continued recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2021) US jobless claims were at 326,000 last week, remaining below the key 400,000 level for a tenth week in a row in continued recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday.

"In the week ending October 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 326,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week's revised level," the department said in a news release.

Unemployment filings have not crossed the 400,000 bar since the week ended July 31. That is an important indicator for the Federal Reserve, which is closely watching labor market recovery to begin tapering its monthly stimulus of $120 billion for the economy.

Economists polled by US media had expected 348,000 filings in the latest week. In two previous weeks, the numbers reported by the Labor Department were higher than forecast, although below the 400,000 bar.

"This is a nice improvement after two weeks of disappointing data," economist Adam Button said in a comment posted on ForexLive.

Continuing claims for the week ended September 25 reported with a one-week lag slid to 2.71 million from the previous week's level of 2.81 million. That brought the weekly unemployment rate down by 0.1% to 2.0%.

Some 19 months into the COVID-19 crisis, restoring job growth remains one of the main concerns of US policymakers.

The United States lost more than 21 million jobs between March and April 2020, at the height of business lockdowns forced by the coronavirus. More than 7 million of those jobs have yet to return, officials say.

The US economy itself shrank 3.5% in 2020. This year though, growth has been quite dynamic, with a 6.7% rebound for the second quarter though that was still below the 8.5% expected by economists.

The Fed thinks growth will average at 6.5% for all of 2021. But Chairman Jerome Powell also says it may take a while for "full employment" defined by a monthly unemployment rate of 4% or lower to occur. The monthly unemployment rate stood at 5.2% in August.