Emily McCormick · Reporter
Wed, November 24, 2021, 8:31 AM
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New jobless claims fell far more than expected to set a fresh pandemic-era low last week, underscoring the present tight labor market conditions as initial unemployment claims near 2019 levels while job openings hold near record highs.
The Labor Department released its jobless claims report on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended November 20: 199,000 vs. 260,000 expected and 268,000 during prior week
-- Continuing claims, week ended November 13: 2.049 million vs. 2.033 million expected and 2.080 million during prior week
The total number of new weekly filings fell to a fresh virus-era low for a seventh straight week. During the comparable week last year, initial filings came at well over 700,000. Claims also fell below their 2019 weekly average of approximately 220,000.
Continuing claims for regular state unemployment benefits have also drawn closer to pre-virus levels. After coming in at the lowest level since March 2020 last week, continuing claims also neared their 2019 average rate of about 1.7 million per week.
Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-j ... 25622.html