U.S. Jobless Claims Fall To Eight-Year Low

@AFP
U.S. Jobless Claims Fall To Eight-Year Low

Washington (AFP) — New claims for U.S. unemployment insurance benefits tumbled to an eight-year low last week, pointing to a firming labor market, according to official data released Thursday.

Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, totaled 284,000 in the week ending July 19, down 19,000 from the prior week, the Labor Department said.

That was the lowest level of initial claims since mid-February 2006. Analysts had expected first-time claims to rise to 308,000 last week.

The department revised the previous week’s level up by 1,000 to 303,000.

The four-week moving average fell by 7,250 to 302,000 claims, the lowest level since mid-May 2007 and down from 344,750 a year ago.

The report gave further evidence of improvement in the labor market amid steady job growth that pushed the unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent in June, from 7.5 percent a year earlier.

AFP Photo/Scott Olson

Interested in economic news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Fox News Deceives Viewers About Its Own Reporter's Question To Biden (VIDEO)

Lucas Tomlinson

On the November 26 edition of Fox News Sunday, Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson declared, “The oldest president in U.S. history also continues to face questions about his age, even here in Nantucket,” followed by video of President Joe Biden reacting to a yelled question — “Mr. President, are you too old to be running for reelection?” — which was clearly Tomlinson’s own voice. In reporting the story to his Fox audience, however, Tomlinson did not make it clear that he was the one who asked the question.

Keep reading...Show less
Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Many liberal and progressive pundits have been predicting a "brain drain" from red states — skillful, college-educated doctors, university professors and teachers leaving because of oppressive MAGA policies. OB-GYNs are worried about draconian anti-abortion laws; teachers and librarians are under attack from the far-right Moms for Liberty.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}