The number of people applying for jobless benefits in the U.S. declined again last week to 190,000, marking the seventh consecutive week in which new claims have come in below 200,000.
The Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits dipped by 2,000 last week. Economists had forecast claims would climb to 200,000.
The labor market has been surprisingly resilient this year following last year’s record pace of hikes by the Federal Reserve that central bank officials have described as an effort to bring down demand for workers. In January, the U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs and employers started the month with more than 11 million job openings, suggesting that the stance of monetary policy is not yet restrictive enough to bring the labor market into better balance.
Jobless claims can be volatile week-t0-week so many economists prefer to look to the four-week moving average of claims to discern the underlying trend in the labor market. This rose by 1,750 to 193,000.
Continuing claims get reported with a one-week delay. These fell by 5,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised level to 1,655,000. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1,671,500, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week.
The strength of the labor market is frustrating efforts by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation. Chairman Jerome Powell has made it clear that he believes a softer labor market, with a better balance between the demand and supply of labor, is necessary to bring inflation down to the Fed’s target of two percent.