US jobless aid applications retreat to 231,000 after surge to near four-year high
Labor Department data show weekly claims ease after previous week's spike; four-week average also declines
U.S. jobless aid applications fell to 231,000 for the week ending Sept. 13, retreating from a surge to a near four-year high a week earlier, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The drop of 33,000 from the prior week came in below a forecast of 241,000 by economists surveyed by FactSet.
The previous week had seen claims rise to 264,000, their highest since Oct. 23, 2021. The Labor Department said the week’s figure was revised up by 1,000.
The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, fell by 750 to 240,000. In the broader picture, the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the previous week of Sept. 6 fell by 7,000 to 1.92 million. Weekly applications have largely settled in a historically low range between 200,000 and 250,000 since the United States began to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic nearly four years ago.