- Filings for unemployment benefits slid to 267,000 last week, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
- That marked a new pandemic-era low but the median forecast for 265,000 claims.
- Continuing claims gained to 2.16 million for the week that ended October 30, also missing estimates.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell again last week as the hiring recovery continued into November.
Jobless claims totaled 267,000 last week, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected claims to fall slightly to 265,000. The print marked a fifth straight new pandemic-era low.
The prior week's sum was revised to 271,000 from 269,000. The report is typically published on Thursday mornings but was moved forward by one day due to the Veterans' Day federal holiday.
Continuing claims – which count Americans filing for continued unemployment insurance – rose to 2.16 million for the week that ended October 30. That came in above the median forecast of 2.05 million continuing claims.
The Wednesday report extends steady downtrends for both initial and continuing claims, albeit at a weaker pace than expected. The two measures still sit well above their pre-crisis lows, yet the pace of their declines suggests they could return to normal by late 2021 or early 2022.
The latest claims data also follow a more encouraging jobs report. The US added 531,000 payrolls in October, according to government data out Friday. That exceeded the median forecast of 450,000 new jobs and marked the strongest month of job growth since July. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 4.8%, also beating economists' expectations.
Strong revisions to August and September gains signaled hiring took less of a hit from the Delta wave as previously expected.
There's reason to believe hiring will accelerate further into the new year. Daily virus cases continued to decline after the jobs report's survey period ended in mid-October. Companies are planning to hire a record number of seasonal workers heading into the holidays. And some experts think the worst of the supply-chain crisis is already behind the US.