Fewer Americans filed jobless claims for the week ending October 20, but the labor market continues to be volatile with weekly reports moving up and down.
The Labor Department said 369,000 jobless claims were filed last week, which is down 23,000 claims from the previous week’s revised figure of 392,000 filings.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average hit 368,000, which is up by 1,500 claims when compared to last week’s average of 366,500 filings.
“Seasonal adjustments the last several weeks have not been smoothing out jobless claims which have been swinging violently,” Econoday said in a research note. “But behind the violent swings is a slightly improving trend that points to incremental improvement for payroll growth and the unemployment rate.”
