Unemployment subsidy petitions in the United States fell by 5,000 last week and stood at 210,000, which remains at the lowest levels in 50 years, the Labor Department reported today.
This decrease is the same as that expected by analysts, who had predicted the same drop in new applications for the week ended October 13.
As for the average of applicants for the subsidy during the last month, a more reliable indicator of the progress of the country’s labor market, increased by 2,000 applications and stood at 211,750, according to the Government’s report.
Requests for unemployment benefits carry 189 consecutive weeks below the figure of 300,000, a sign of good health in the US labor market.
The total number of people receiving unemployment benefits continuously fell by 13,000, to 1.64 million, a figure close to the lowest level since the beginning of 1970.
The strength of the labor market continued during the first year and a half of the president’s term, Donald Trump, and in September the unemployment rate stood at 3.7%.
