Firing Rate Declines: Weekly Jobless Claims Fall More Than Views

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits dropped last week. Weekly jobless claims, a measure also known as the firing rate, decreased by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 275,000 in the week ended September 5.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 275,000 new claims.

The Labor Department said there were no special factors impacting the weekly data, and that claims for the prior week were revised down to 281,000 from the initially reported 282,000. Claim numbers have been volatile from week to week, but have been falling since 2009 due to lower eligibility levels and job gains. The four-week moving average of claims–which is widely considered a better gauge as it irons out weekly volatility–increased by 500 to 275,750 last week.

Claims have now been below 300,000 for 27 straight weeks for the reasons stated above, but it is the longest such below 300K streak in more than 40 years.

The report follows two very disappointing jobs reports; one from the Labor Department and the other from payroll processor ADP. While the labor market has been adding jobs for nearly five years, wages have held steady and the number of long-term unemployed and underemployed workers is still relatively high.

The Labor Department said Friday employers added just 173,000 jobs, the weakest monthly gain since March and far below the 250,000 needed to simply keep pace with inflation. Though the unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%, it was in part due to the 37-year low civilian labor force participation rate (62.6%) and the less-cited but arguably more important employment-population ratio (59.4%). That reports painted a bleak picture for the Federal Reserve, which next week will weigh the timing and trajectory of a badly needed rate hike later this year.

Thursday’s report showed the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims-those drawn by workers for more than a week-rose by 1,000 to 2,260,000 in the week ended Aug. 29. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.