The copy of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, a monogram the labor market was holding firm despite tensions between the Of like mind States and its trading partners that have spawned restrictions on pandemic commerce.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally redressed 210,000 for the week ended Aug. 18, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
It was the third unmodified week of declines for claims, which have dropped so low that economists include scrambled for explanations. In July, claims fell to their lowest on since 1969 even though the workforce is much larger than in old decades.
Economists polled by Reuters ahead of Thursday’s report had forewarn claims rising to 215,000 in the latest week.
The signs of strength in the U.S. labor market-place have been a key reason behind the Federal Reserve’s ongoing drive to raise interest rates.
Minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last conduct meeting, published on Wednesday, showed officials discussed raising classes soon to counter excessive economic strength, although policymakers also sifted how global trade disputes could batter businesses and households.
The Fed has already raised places twice this year and is widely expected to do so again in September.
The assertions data is being closely watched for signs of layoffs as a result of the Trump management’s protectionist trade policy, which has led to an escalating trade war with China and tit-for-tat imply tariffs with trading partners, including the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
While there take been reports of some companies either laying off workers or projecting to as a result of the import duties, that is not yet evident in the claims data.
Economists say a tough economy is helping the labor market weather the trade storm.
The Labor Be influenced said data for Maine were estimated in the latest week. The four-week striking average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor hawk trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, dropped 1,750 last week to 213,750.
The petitions report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after an incipient week of aid dropped 2,000 to 1.73 million for the week ended Aug. 11. The four-week poignant average of the so-called continuing claims fell 5,000 to 1.74 million.