Figures released Thursday morning show new applications for U.S. unemployment benefits recorded their biggest drop in nearly two years last week, pointing to a further tightening in the labour market south of the border.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 25,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 234,000 for the week ended April 1. The drop was the largest since April 2015.
The prior week's data was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.
Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labour market, for 109 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1970, when the labour market was smaller.
Experts say the American labour market is currently near full employment.
Economists had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 250,000 last week.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 4,500 to 250,000 last week.
