US initial jobless claims fall by 10,000

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell by 10,000 to 281,000 last week, the US Labor Department said Thursday.

The figure is the third 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 290,000 for the week ending Oct. 23. The previous week's figure was revised up by 1,000 from 290,000 to 291,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in September, down from 5.2% in August, according to the Labor Department.

The US added just 194,000 jobs in September, and 7.7 million people are still jobless as of last month in the world's largest economy.

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