The number of new applications for unemployment benefits fell 1,000 last week to 268,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
The number of jobless claims was slightly more than forecasters expected but still the lowest level since the pandemic took hold and a sign of labor market tightness.
While the general trend has been that new jobless claims have been in decline as the economy recovers, the country is still millions of jobs short of prior to the pandemic, when unemployment dropped to an ultra-low 3.5%.
“The progress may have been slight, but it is progress nonetheless,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “Looking beyond one week’s figures, the 4-week moving averages — which smooth out some of the week-to-week volatility in an effort to provide a clearer view of the trend — are also the lowest since March 2020 for both initial and continued unemployment claim filings.”
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The current rate of unemployment sits at 4.6% after a better-than-expected October jobs report that found the economy added 531,000 jobs that month. As the number of new jobs increases, so has the number of people quitting.
Some 4.4 million workers quit their jobs in September, up from a previous record of 4.3 million the month prior. The quantity of people leaving their jobs is the highest since the U.S. began keeping records about two decades ago and is equivalent to about 3% of the country’s labor force.
A worrying economic trend is that of inflation. While the Federal Reserve and Biden administration have consistently batted down news of higher prices by calling it “transitory,” inflation has increased beyond the bounds that most economists had previously forecast.
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Inflation recently hit its highest rate in three decades, registering a mammoth 6.2% for the year ending in October, nearly 0.5% above predictions. Consumer sentiment also recently fell to its lowest level in a decade.
