Thursday brings another round of downward unemployment benefits south of the border, bringing the figure to near another 43-year low, amid a further tightening of the labour market that could eventually spur faster wage growth.
Numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 234,000 for the week ended Feb. 4. That left claims just shy of the 43-year low of 233,000 touched in early November.
Claims have now remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a strong labour market, for 101 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1970, when the U.S. labour market was much smaller.
The labour market in the U.S. is at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate at 4.8%, having hit a nine-year low of 4.6% in November.
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