New applications for unemployment benefits haven’t been this low since 1969, fresh data showed Thursday.
The number of first-time filings for unemployment benefits tumbled last week by 22,000 to an estimated 187,000 claims, marking the lowest seasonally adjusted tally since September 1969, according to the Department of Labor.
Jobless claims data can be highly volatile and is frequently revised (the latest number, for example, could be reflecting summer maintenance shutdowns at auto plants); however, it also can provide a timelier snapshot of shifts occurring in the labor market, which has seen a slowdown in hiring as well as in job cuts.
First-time claims are closely watched as a proxy for layoff activity, which appears to be subdued, Oliver Allen, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, noted Thursday.
“Leading indicators – such as the Challenger job cuts series and WARN advance layoff notices – point to little change in the near term,” Allen wrote.
