U.S. initial jobless claims drop further, labor market health remains in place

Initial jobless claims dropped in the U.S. a week ago. In the week ended 24 November, initial jobless claims fell 2000 to 238k from a revised 240k a week ago. The greatly unchanged reading was consistent with the consensus expectations of 240k. The four-week moving average rose to 242k from 240k.

Elsewhere, continuing claims were up 42k to 1.957 million in the week ended 18 November. This was the second straight sizeable monthly rise and pushed the four-week moving average higher to 1.911 million. The insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.4 percent. Overall, there is little news in initial and continuing claims as distortions to earlier weeks of data from the hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. have passed through the labor markets, noted Barclays in a research report.

The initial claims data hint that the underlying labor market’s health continues to be in place, while the volatility in recent weeks was simply storm-induced noise.

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