U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly See Further Downside

(RTTNews) - After reporting an unexpected pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing initial jobless claims saw further downside in the week ended October 19th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 227,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 242,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 242,000 from the 241,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Jobless claims continued to give back ground after reaching their highest level in over a year in the week ended October 5th.

"Initial jobless claims declined again in the week ended October 19, as claims in some states impacted by Hurricane Helene continued to retreat from their recent highs, although claims in Florida rose, likely a result of Hurricane Milton," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "With the latest week's decline, claims are in line with pre-hurricane levels and consistent with a labor market that continues to be characterized by few layoffs."

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 238,500, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 236,500.

The report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed by 28,000 to 1.897 million in the week ended October 12th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose to 1,860,750, an increase of 17,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,843,250.

"The underlying trends in continuing claims suggest it's gradually becoming harder for workers to find new job opportunities," said Nationwide Financial Markets Economist Oren Klachkin. "However, we're far from a recession type of environment. Simply put, claims aren't near levels that make us worried about the labor market."

Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of October.