U.S. jobless claims drops in April’s first week, continues to point towards robust labor markets

U.S. jobless claims dropped in the first week of April, coming in line with consensus expectations. The initial jobless claims fell to 233k in the week ended 7 April, as compared with consensus expectations of 230k. The four-week moving average came in at 230k, just a bit higher than the prior week’s 228k.

This measure of claims continues to be close to historical lows and implies very low rates of job separation in the labor market. Meanwhile, continuing claims for the week ended 31 March rose to 1.871k from 1.818k, and the insured jobless rate remained at 1.3 percent.

Overall, there was no new information in today’s report, and the claims data continues to indicate towards strong labor markets, stated Barclays in a research report.

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