Off the wire
• Gunmen kill 12 civilians in South Sudan's Yei town  • Slovenia-Russia intergovernmental commission meets to review ties  • JSE extends rally on Thursday led by gold miners  • Commentary: Int'l cooperation needed for establishing a sound cyberspace community  • Nigerian troops nab 37 Boko Haram suspects in SW states  • Namibian president to visit France  • Irish property prices up 7.3 pct in year to September  • Nairobi bourse key indices sustain gains on high foreign trading  • Investors swarm Kenya's Treasury with funds as T-bill yields surge  • Egypt pardons 82 prisoners, mostly students  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. initial jobless claims fall to 43-year low

Xinhua, November 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid fell to a 43-year low last week, as the whole job market kept improving.

In the week ending November 12, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 235,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week, the lowest level since November 24, 1973, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility fell 6,500 from the previous week' s revised average to 253,500.

This marks 89 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, a benchmark for real job growth or loss in the economy, the longest streak since 1970, said the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 5 decreased 66,000 from the previous week to 1,977,000, the lowest level since April 15, 2000.

The Labor Department also revised up job gains in September and August, making payroll growth have averaged 176,000 per month over the past 3 months. Enditem