New applications for unemployment benefits only slightly ticked up to 239,000 in the third full week of President Trump’s presidency, the Department of Labor reported Thursday, after scraping the lowest levels in four decades the week before.
Thursday’s number was well below forecasters’ expectations which were for claims to rebound to 246,000 after hitting an ultra-low 234,000 in the first week of February.
Low numbers of jobless claims are a good sign, as they suggest that layoffs are relatively rare.
Because they are released every week, jobless claims are viewed by the investors and the Federal Reserve as a high-frequency gauge of the labor market’s health. On Wednesday, Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen testified that “incoming data suggest that labor market conditions continue to strengthen,” an indication that she plans to continue raising interest rates as the economy improves.
Economists reckon that new claims below the 300,000 marks indicate falling or stable unemployment. Over the past month, claims have averaged 245,250, the second lowest such mark since November of 1973.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate stood at 4.8 percent in January, not far from where the Fed thinks it would be if the economy were fully healthy.
Other indicators of joblessness, such as the number of people forced into part-time work, still remain elevated but have been trending down along with the unemployment rate and the low jobless claims numbers.
