Washington: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 43 year-low last week, pointing to further tightening in the labour market.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 235,000 for the week ended Dec. 31, the Labor Department said yesterday. That was close to the 233,000 touched in mid-November, which was the lowest level since November 1973.
Claims for the prior week were revised to show 2,000 fewer applications received than previously reported. But with claims data for six states and one territory estimated because of the New Year's holiday, last week's drop likely exaggerates the labour market's strength.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 5,750 to 256,750 last week.
In a second report, payrolls processor ADP said private employers added 153,000 jobs in December after increasing their payrolls by 215,000 in November. The ADP national employment report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.
Prices for U.S. Treasuries were trading higher after the data, while U.S. stock futures were weaker. The dollar .DXY fell against a basket of currencies.
Initial jobless claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labour market, for 96 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labour market was much smaller.
The labour market is considered to be at or near full employment, with the jobless rate at a nine-year low of 4.6 percent. Tightening labour market conditions and gradually firming inflation allowed the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate last month by 25 basis points to a range of 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent.
While the US central bank forecast three rate hikes for 2017, minutes of the December 13-14 policy meeting released on Wednesday suggested the pace of increases would largely be determined by the labour market and fiscal policy.
Economists polled had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 260,000 in the latest week.
