The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday that the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly fell last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 15,000 to 227,000 for the week that ended October 19. This represented the lowest weekly total in three
weeks.
Economists had predicted
242,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 242,000 from the original estimate of 241,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims rose to 238,500 from
an upwardly revised 236,500 (from 236,250) in the previous week. This was the highest count since the week ended August 3 (241,000).
As for
continuing claims, they increased to 1,897,000 from an upwardly revised
1,869,000 (from 1,867,000) in the previous week. This marked the highest
reading since late mid-November 2021. Economists
had forecast continuing jobless claims of 1,880,000.