22 mins ago - Economy
Super-low jobless claims expected to continue
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The pace of layoffs has been historically low — and the latest data on weekly jobless claims points to the pattern continuing.
Driving the news: Only 200,000 people filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.
- That was the ninth consecutive week of claims being at or below 200,000, the first time that has happened in a data series that dates to 1967.
- The four-week moving average of claims was stable at 195,250 for the second consecutive week, an all-time low.
- The number of continuing claims for unemployment benefits was 1.697 million last week, near three-year lows. (It was slightly lower, 1.695 million, for one week last month.)
State of play: The recent claims data aligns with other evidence that, even as employers are not going gangbusters in hiring new staff, they are unusually reluctant to cut current workers from their payrolls.
- For example, the rate of layoffs and discharges was 1% in September, only a tick above the all-time low of 0.9% reached in the ultra-hot job market of 2021.
- Federal Reserve officials have pointed to the low jobless claims as evidence of a relatively strong job market — one that allows them to focus their attention on inflation.
The bottom line: The economy has plenty of problems, but mass layoffs aren't among them.
