Fewer Than 300,000 Americans File Jobless Claims for 10th Week
Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the need to retain staff keeps firings at the lowest levels in more than a decade.
Jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 291,000 in the week ended Nov. 15 from an upwardly revised 293,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed Nov. 20 in Washington.
The median forecast of 51 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a decline to 284,000. It was the 10th straight week the number of claims has been lower than 300,000, which hasn’t happened since 2000.
Companies are holding on to more workers to keep pace with demand for domestic goods and services that has held up even as growth in overseas markets cools. As a result, firings have lingered near historically low levels and payrolls are rising, giving U.S. households a needed lift as the holidays approach.
“If you have a position, there’s a lot less concern that you’re going to be laid off,” Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. in Chicago, said before the report. “That certainly is a good step.”
Claims estimates from 51 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 265,000 to 295,000. The prior week’s claims were revised up from an initial reading of 290,000.
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, climbed to 287,500 from 285,750 the week before.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 73,000 to 2.33 million in the week ended Nov. 8, the fewest since December 2000.
In that same period, the unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.8%, the report showed.
Initial jobless claims reflect weekly firings and typically decrease before job growth can accelerate.
