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Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a number of claims of 212,000 over the past week. The Labor Department said the North Carolina and South Carolina claims continued to be affected by Hurricane Florence, which flooded the area in mid-September. The claims for Florida were affected by Hurricane Michael.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, as it reduces volatility week by week, increased from 2,000 to 211,750 last week.
The claims data covered the survey period for the non-farm pay component of the October employment report. Although the four-week rolling average of claims increased by 5,750 between the September and October survey periods, this is unlikely to change expectations for the recovery in job growth this month after the drop in payroll in restaurants and retail businesses in September.
The economy created 134,000 jobs in September, the lowest number in a year. The labor market is perceived as close to full employment or at full employment, with an unemployment rate close to 3.7%, its lowest level in 49 years. There is a record of 7.14 million open jobs.
The minutes of the September 25-26 Fed meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers "generally agreed that (labor market) conditions were continuing to strengthen."
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