US Initial Jobless Claims Declined To 220,000 Last Week

Applications for US unemployment benefits fell last week to 220,000, indicating that employers are largely still holding onto current workers despite economic uncertainty.

Initial claims decreased by 8,000 in the week ended Nov. 15. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 227,000 applications.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose to 1.97 million in the previous week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.

The report is the first official release on nationwide claims after a 43-day shutdown of the federal government paused data reports.

Though an increasing number of large corporations have announced job cuts in recent weeks, including Amazon.com Inc. and Target Corp., applications for unemployment benefits have remained relatively subdued so far.

The four-week moving average of new applications, a metric that helps smooth out volatility, also fell slightly, to 224,250 last week. 

Federal Reserve officials lowered interest rates at their last two policy meetings in an effort to bolster the slowing labor market. Fed Chair Jerome Powell characterized it as “gradually cooling” in late October, based on public- and private-sector data available at the time.

The delayed September employment report, also released Thursday, showed nonfarm payrolls increased after falling in August, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it won’t publish an October employment report and the November release will not come until Dec. 16 — after the Fed’s last meeting of the year. Policymakers have opposing views over whether they should cut rates for a third time this year.