First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended May 13th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The report said initial jobless claims slid to 242,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 264,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 254,000.<\/p>\n
The bigger than expected drop came after jobless claims reached their highest level since the week ended October 30, 2021 in the previous week.<\/p>\n
“A drop in claims in Massachusetts accounted for most of the total decline; fraudulent claims in that state have been inflating figures in recent weeks,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n
“Apart from Massachusetts, initial claims have stabilized in recent weeks after drifting higher in Q1, a reminder that labor market conditions are still relatively tight,” she added. “While we expect the Fed to leave rates steady at its June meeting, a resumption of rate hikes can’t be ruled out if labor market conditions don’t ease more significantly.”<\/p>\n
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 244,250, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 245,250.<\/p>\n
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also slipped by 8,000 to 1.799 million in the week ended May 6th.<\/p>\n
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also fell to 1,812,500, a decrease of 15,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,828,000. <\/p>\n