The labor market continued to show surprising resiliency in the early days of 2024, with initial jobless claims posting an unexpected drop last week.
Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 187,000 for the week ended Jan. 13, the lowest level since Sept. 24, 2022, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The total marked a 16,000 decline from the previous week and came in below the Dow Jones estimate of 208,000.
Along with the drop in weekly claims came an unexpected decline of 26,000 in continuing claims, which run a week behind.
The total for continuing claims hit 1.806 million, below the FactSet estimate for 1.83 million.
Persons:
Dow Jones
Organizations:
Labor Department, Labor, Federal Reserve, Philadelphia Fed
Locations:
Central