US initial jobless claims drop by 10,000, unemployment drops to 1.1pc

(Sharecast News) - Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 12 September, according to the Labor Department, extending recent resilience in the labour market. Initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 196,000, better than expectations for an increase to 208,000 and in keeping with a recent run of low claim counts since hitting an almost 60-year low of 189,000 in mid July.

Continuing claims fell by 39,000 week-on-week to 1.73m, below expectations of 1.78m, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, also came in at 203,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the prior week.

The Labor Department also said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1% for the week ended 5 September, down from the previous week's unrevised 1.2% print.



Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com