Americans filing for unemployment benefits shrank in numbers to near a six-month low last week, pointing to a further tightening in the labour market south of the border that could encourage the Federal Reserve to lay out a plan to start unwinding its massive bond portfolio.
Figures released by the U.S. Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 232,000 for the week ended Aug. 12, the lowest level since the week ended Feb. 25 when claims fell to 227,000, the best reading since March 1973. Data for the prior week was unrevised.
It was the 128th week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a robust labour market, and the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labour market stateside was smaller. The unemployment rate is 4.3%.
Economists had forecast claims dropping to 240,000 in the latest week. A department official said there were no special factors influencing the claims data and that no states had been estimated.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell by 500 to 240,500 last week.
