U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Drop To 787,000, Coming In Well Below Estimates
October 22 2020 - 5:19AM
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A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a
decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the
week ended October 17th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to
787,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week's revised
level of 842,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 860,000 from
the 898,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Along with the notable downward revision to the previous week's
number, the report showed initial jobless claims in the week ended
October 3rd were downwardly revised to 767,000 from 845,000.
The Labor Department noted the latest release reflects actual
counts for California, which has completed its pause in processing
of initial claims and resumed reporting actual unemployment
insurance claims data.
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average
dipped to 811,250, a decrease of 21,500 from the previous week's
revised average of 832,750.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving
ongoing unemployment assistance, also tumbled by 1.024 million to
8.373 million in the week ended October 10th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims plunged to
10,085,750, a decrease of 1,093,500 from the previous week's
revised average of 11,179,250.
"Continuing claims fell by more than 1 million, but that
positive trend is partly offset by a rise in the number of
individuals who have exhausted regular benefits, which totaled more
than 3.7 million in the week ended October 3," said Nancy Vanden
Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
She added, "Failure to pass additional fiscal relief measures
that include emergency unemployment benefits poses considerable
downside risk to the economy, particularly with Covid-19 cases on
the rise, raising the possibility of new restrictions."
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