U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To Eight-Month Low

RTTNews | 2 days ago

(RTTNews) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower in the week ended December 28th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 211,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000.

The dip surprised economist, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 222,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 209,000 in the week ended April 27, 2024.

"The claims data are consistent with a labor market that is strong enough to allow the Federal Reserve to proceed with rate cuts at a more measured pace in 2025," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. "The level of initial claims is consistent with a relatively low pace of layoffs."

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 223,250, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 226,750.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell by 52,000 to 1.844 million in the week ended December 21st.

The four-week moving average if continuing claims also slid to 1,870,750, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,877,500.

"While the level of continued claims suggests unemployed workers face some challenges finding new work, the recent decline in continued claims is encouraging," said Vanden Houten.

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