Initial claims dropped by 26,000 from the prior week, well below analyst expectations of 212,000
The Labor Department said Thursday that U.S. initial unemployment claims totaled 189,000 for the week ending April 25, down 26,000 from a revised prior-week figure of 215,000. That is the lowest reading in more than 50 years, according to The Associated Press, citing research firm High Frequency Economics, which said the figure was the fewest new applications since September 1969.
Analysts had projected 212,000 applications for the week, according to Bloomberg.
At 207,500, the four-week moving average — a measure designed to reduce week-to-week volatility — was 3,500 below the previous week's revised figure.
For the week ending April 18, the number of people collecting ongoing unemployment benefits reached its lowest point in two years, dropping by 23,000 to 1.785 million, according to Bloomberg. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.2%.
On an unadjusted basis, initial claims totaled 179,765, a decline of 26,668, or 12.9%, from the preceding week. The comparable figure a year earlier was 224,021.
Among individual states, New York posted the steepest reduction in unadjusted filings, shedding close to 11,000 applications, with California and Connecticut also seeing notable pullbacks, according to Bloomberg.
The historically low filing numbers have persisted even though a string of prominent employers — among them Meta $META Platforms, Nike $NKE, Morgan Stanley $MS, and Amazon $AMZN — have publicly announced workforce reductions, according to Bloomberg and The Associated Press. Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a labor market displaying "more and more signs of stability" after the Federal Reserve opted Wednesday to hold its benchmark rate steady, according to Bloomberg.
Since the economy recovered from the pandemic-era downturn, new unemployment filings had generally held within a band of roughly 200,000 to 250,000 per week, according to the AP. Economists have described conditions in the job market as "low-hire, low-fire," a dynamic that holds layoffs in check and suppresses the unemployment rate but leaves people who have lost jobs with few openings to pursue, according to the AP.
