U.S. jobless claims drop for fifth straight week amid still tight labor market

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Initial jobless claims in the United States last week dropped for the fifth straight week to reach 213,000 amid continued labor market tightness, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

In the week ending Sept. 10, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 5,000 from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 218,000, according to a report released by the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The four-week moving average for initial jobless claims, a method to iron out data volatility, also decreased by 8,000 to 224,000, the report showed.

The latest report also showed that the number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits, which was reported with a one-week lag, increased by 2,000 to 1.4 million during the week ending Sept. 3.

The latest weekly figure of 213,000 was below the 2019 weekly average of 218,000, which was the pre-pandemic level. In the week ending March 21, 2020, initial jobless claims skyrocketed to 2.9 million.

Jobless claims totaled 166,000 in the week ending March 19 this year, the lowest in decades. In recent months, the figures have been trending up amid surging inflation and rising interest rates.

The latest figure, however, showed that applications for unemployment insurance fell for a fifth week, signaling still robust demand for labor even as economic growth slows.

The number of job openings in the United States rose to 11.2 million by the end of July, as the imbalances between labor market supply and demand remained, the U.S. Labor Department reported earlier. With the increase in job openings, there were nearly two job positions per available worker.

As the U.S. Federal Reserve ramps up its fight against surging inflation, the strong job market may be about to take a turn for the worse.

"Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth. Moreover, there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in his annual policy speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming late August.

Acknowledging the "unfortunate costs" of reducing inflation, Powell, however, stressed that "a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain."