Labor Says Weekly Jobless Claims Fell More Than Expected Last Week

The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, according to a new report from the Labor Department.

Labor said on Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 for the week ended Nov. 1. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell by just 2,250 to 279,000. The prior two reports showed an increase, despite the few number of Americans still eligible due to long-term unemployment.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected claims to fall to 285,000 last week. A report on Wednesday showed private payrolls added 230,000 in October, which if mirrored by the Labor Department Friday, would show seven straight months of job gains exceeding 200,000.

However, the number of jobs doesn’t translate into healthy economic growth, as we’ve seen recently. A number of alarmists are citing the disproportionate number of part-time jobs that make up the vast majority of those positions as a reason for the disconnect between the government’s claims and the sentiment around the country.

Since the period of consecutive job creation, approximately 70 percent of the jobs created were part-time jobs.

The government is expected to report on Friday that nonfarm payrolls have, in fact, increased by 231,000 last month, which is down from the 248,000 in September, according to economists polled by Reuters. The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at a six-year low that few Americans believe — 5.9 percent — which has been drastically adjusted over the past several years.

Still, the claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid declined 39,000 to 2.35 million in the week ended Oct. 25, which is the lowest level since December 2000. Again, that is largely due to the fact long-term employment has plagued Americans and, as a percentage of the eligible workforce, the pool of workers have generally exhausted their benefits.

The unemployment rate for people receiving jobless benefits was at 1.8 percent for an eighth straight week.