Initial Weekly Claims Drop 24,000
NEW YORK (
) -- The number of Americans filing unemployment claims for the first time dropped more than expected last week according to a Labor Department report released early Wednesday.
The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims decreased by 24,000 to 435,000 in the week ended Nov. 6, from the previous week's upwardly revised estimate of 459,000. Analysts were expecting initial claims to drop to 450,000,
after rising 20,000 to 457,000 in the previous week, according to consensus estimates from
Briefing.com
.
The number of people filing continuing claims -- those who have been receiving unemployment insurance for at least a week -- came in lower than expected at 4.3 million for the week ended Oct. 30, a decrease of 86,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 4.387 million. Consensus estimates projected continuing claims to drop to 4.350 million.
The
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were falling 0.1 % each in premarket trading while the
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The 4-week moving average in initial claims, which smoothes the volatility in week-to-week reports, was 446,500, an decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised average of 456,500. The 4-week moving average in continuing claims was 4.388 million, a decrease of 35,750 from the preceding week's average of 4.424 million.
The economy added jobs in October for the first time since May, the Labor Department said in its employment situation report. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 151,000, more than the 60,000 economists were expecting.
The jobs report will be closely followed in the months to come by investors as the political climate changes and most certainly by the
Federal Reserve
.
The slow pace of job creation has been a major source of concern for the central bank as the U.S. economy struggles to make a strong recovery from the great recession. Economists say jobs need to grow at a pace of 100,000 to 120,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with population growth and at more than 200,000 jobs a month to signal a strong recovery. However, jobs growth has so far been anemic, with unemployment rates remaining stubbornly near the 10% level.
The unsustainably high unemployment rate was one reason the Fed cited for embarking on another round of quantitative easing. But the central bank has indicated that it might scale back its efforts if the economy and jobs show signs of making a more rapid recovery.
Still, few expect unemployment to fall dramatically in the next couple of months and the market is expecting the central bank to continue its easing effort until it does.
-- Written by Shanthi Venkataraman in New York.
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