Jobless Claims Fell Last Week Amid Tight U.S. Labor Market

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. filings for unemployment benefits held near an almost five-decade low, indicating a robust job market, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.

Jobless claims decreased by 1,000 to 214,000 in the week ended Nov. 3, in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists, from an upwardly revised reading the prior week. The four-week average of initial claims, a less-volatile measure, declined to 213,750.

Key Insights

• The data show the labor market remains tight as companies compete for workers amid the lowest unemployment in decades.
• The prior week’s claims were revised to 215,000 from 214,000.
• Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, fell by 8,000 to 1.62 million in the week ended Oct. 27. That was the lowest since July 1973.
• The share of Americans in the labor force claiming unemployment benefits held at 1.1 percent; that compares with a jobless rate of 3.7 percent.
• Florida and Georgia claims were affected by Hurricane Michael while North Carolina was impacted by Hurricane Florence

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• The monthly jobs report last week showed that companies are starting to raise wages to retain and attract new talent, boding well for workers as the market tightens further.
• While the weekly figures tend to be volatile, they remain in-line with company reports and surveys highlighting the challenge of finding talent.

--With assistance from Jordan Yadoo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katia Dmitrieva in Washington at edmitrieva1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, Jeff Kearns

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