That’s a drop of 20,000 from the previous week’s total, which was upwardly revised to 231,000; and the lowest level since September. Economists were expecting claims to be 230,000. Continuing claims, which measure the number of people who are collecting benefits on an ongoing basis, were 1.671 million for the week ended December 3, slightly above the previous week’s downwardly revised level of 1.67 million, Labor Department data shows.
“Initial claims data can be noisy around the holidays, but the low level of initial claims is a reminder that employers are reluctant to let go of workers they’ve struggled to find,” she said in a statement. “A higher level of continued claims, meanwhile, suggests that workers are collecting benefits for longer because finding a new job may be getting more difficult.” As a whole, the claims data paint a picture of a labor market that is still too tight for the Federal Reserve, she added.
Because of POTUS
Don't need to file a claim when the government is just handing out cash...