U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to 44-Year Low After Hurricane Disruptions
October 19 2017 - 9:00AM
Dow Jones News
By Sharon Nunn and Josh Mitchell
WASHINGTON--The number of Americans filing applications for new
unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in 44 years,
reflecting power outages in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands that have disrupted the application process.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S.,
fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 in the week ended
Oct. 14, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The sharp drop obscures underlying trends in the labor market.
Many applying for unemployment benefits in Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands, which were recently devastated by Hurricanes Irma
and Maria, must submit paper applications because power outages and
infrastructure damage are disrupting the electronic process. This
has slowed what would likely be an influx of unemployment
applications to a trickle, a Labor Department economist said.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected 239,000
new claims last week.
Despite the electronic disruptions in Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands, jobless claims spiked in the last month because of
Irma and Maria and another storm, Hurricane Harvey, affecting
claims numbers in the two American territories and Florida, Georgia
and Texas.
Jobless claims could edge up slightly in California in the next
few weeks because of wildfires that have plagued the Northern part
of the state, which has decimated homes and businesses.
Still, claims have remained historically low, showing the
overall health of the labor market. Claims numbers have remained
below 300,000 a week for more than two and a half years.
Jobless claims data can be volatile. The four-week moving
average, a steadier measure, dropped 9,500 to 248,250 last week,
after hitting a more than one-year peak in mid-September.
The number of claims workers made for longer than a week also
dropped, falling to 1,888,000 in the week ended Oct. 7, which is
reported along with last week's data because continuing claims are
released with a one-week lag.
The unemployment rate dipped to 4.2% in September, the lowest
reading in 16 years, despite U.S. nonfarm employers shedding jobs
for the first time since September 2010. The hemorrhaged jobs are
likely a reflection of hurricane-related economic disruptions,
though Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands aren't included in
national employment data.
The Labor Department's latest report on jobless claims can be
accessed at: https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf
Write to Sharon Nunn at Sharon.Nunn@wsj.com and Josh Mitchell at
Joshua.Mitchell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)
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