US initial jobless claims drop by 4,000

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims dropped by 4,000 to 267,000 last week, the US Labor Department said on Wednesday.

The figure is the fifth consecutive weekly decline below the critical 300,000 level and “the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000,” it said.

Analysts expected the figure to come in at 265,000 for the week ending Nov. 6. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 2,000 from 269,000 to 271,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in October, down from 4.8% in September, according to latest figures by the Labor Department.

The US added 531,000 jobs in October, but 7.4 million people are still out of work as of last month in the world’s largest economy.

More than 22 million workers in the US lost jobs in March and April of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.