Washington, DC, February 2, 2006-- First-time seasonally adjusted claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 11,000 to 273,000 in the week ending Jan. 28, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The four-week average of new claims fell by 4,750 to 284,250, the lowest since June 2000.
There were no special factors such as storms, strikes or holidays that distorted the filings, a Labor Department spokesman said. Read the full report.
Meanwhile, the number of people collecting state unemployment benefits fell by 64,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.5 million in the week ending Jan. 21, the lowest since February 2001.
The four-week average of continuing claims fell by about 46,000 to 2.58 million, the lowest since March 2001, the month the recession began.
The insured unemployment rate - the percentage of those workers covered by unemployment insurance who are actually collecting - fell to 1.9% from 2%. It's the lowest rate since February 2001.
New filings in this range are consistent with steady job growth of 200,000 or more per month, economists say.
The claims data are very volatile this time of year. The government's statistical seasonal adjustment factors cannot completely smooth out the massive swings in seasonal employment in December and January.
Some economists theorize that hiring in the retail sector was particularly weak this past holiday season, which meant fewer workers were laid off in January, thus holding initial claims down. In addition, one of the warmest Januarys on record likely kept many workers on the job longer in construction and other outside work.
Economists expect strong payroll growth in January of around 241,000 after a tepid gain of just 108,000 in December. The numbers will be reported on Friday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
Initial claims are down about 14% year-over-year. Continuing claims are down about 5%.
