The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits at the end of January fell close to a post-recession low, signaling the U.S. labour market is still rock solid despite stiffer economic headwinds.
Washington said initial jobless claims declined by 15,000 to 202,000 in the seven days ended Feb. 1. The figures are seasonally adjusted.
Economists had forecast a 215,000 reading.
The more stable monthly average of jobless claims, which filters out the weekly ups and downs, dropped by 3,000 to 211,750.
New unemployment applications are seen as a rough measure of how many people are losing their jobs. They touched a 50-year low of 193,000 in April 2019 and have hovered around 200,000 since then.
The creation of more than 20 million new jobs in the past decade has slashed unemployment to a 50-year low of 3.5%, giving the economy a strong foundation to prolong a record expansion that will observe its 11th anniversary in June.
Although hiring has slowed, the U.S. is still adding more than enough jobs to nudge the unemployment rate even lower. Experts forecast the stateside economy likely created 164,000 new jobs in the first month of 2020. The January jobs report comes out south of the border Friday morning.
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