Weekly jobless claims came in slightly less than expected last week, although job gains in the U.S. remain slow.
Claims for unemployment insurance for the first time totaled 779,000 in the week ended January 30, the Labor Department said on Thursday. This was below the estimate of 830,000 economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
This was the lowest week in complaints since November 28, while the US economy continues its slow recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The total represented a drop of 33,000 from the previous week’s downward revised count of 812,000.
Continuous claims also continued to decline, dropping 193,000 over the previous report week to 4.6 million. The peak of the pandemic era for ongoing claims was 24.9 million in early May 2020. Continued claims data are a week behind initial claims.
In addition, the total number of beneficiaries fell sharply, dropping by almost half a million to 17.8 million. This reflects a continuing decline in those receiving benefits from pandemic-related programs that have been slightly offset by those with extended benefits.
With unemployment still high, the Biden government is working on a plan to force additional stimulus checks on Americans, as well as increase compensation.
The drop in complaints last week was largely due to a decline of more than 55,000 in Illinois, although much of that drop was offset by a gain of more than 46,000 in California, according to unadjusted figures.
The report comes before the Department of Labor’s release on Friday of the January non-farm payroll count. The Dow Jones estimate for this total is 50,000, with the unemployment rate remaining at 6.7%.
Although recovery from labor still has a long way to go, there have been some encouraging signs recently. ISM reports on manufacturing and services showed that companies are adding workers, while the ADP private payroll count released on Wednesday showed better-than-expected growth of 174,000.
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