Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell more than forecast to their lowest level since the beginning as Covid-19 cases declined and sanctions eased.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 18,000 to 215,000 in the week ended Feb. 26 based on a report from the Department of Labor on Thursday. These readings are also far below the targets set by economists.
Ongoing claims for unemployment in the United States changed to 1.48 million in the week ended Feb. 19. The decline in claims was consistent with the labor market recovering from the impact of the omicron variant, to the point of previously forcing some businesses to close.
This trend is expected to continue as the easing of Covid restrictions is likely to encourage Americans to go to work, and employers are interested in retaining employees when activity returns to active.
The data was released a day earlier than the NFP government jobs report which predicted that the U.S. would add 415,000 jobs in February. A separate report released on Wednesday showed U.S. companies added 475,000 jobs higher than forecast.