The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits held below pre-pandemic levels last week, while consumer spending increased solidly, putting the economy on track for a strong finish to 2021.
Information unleashed Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits were unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 205,000 for the week ended Dec. 18. Early this month, claims dropped to a level last seen in 1969.
But price pressures continued to build up, with a measure of underlying inflation recording its largest annual increase since 1989 in November. The reports on Thursday came as the nation was struggling with a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, driven by the Delta and highly transmissible Omicron variant, which could crimp economic growth in the first quarter.
Economists had forecast 205,000 applications for the latest week. Claims have declined from a record high of 6.149 million in early April 2020.
