The U.S. Labor Market – Outperforming Analysts’ Expectations

For the week ended September 21, initial jobless claims in the U.S. dropped by 5K to 305K, in a directly opposite direction to Street estimates, which had thought the figure would rise to 325K.

The statistics show employers are optimistic about economic prospects, despite the looming government shutdown likely this week, unless a last minute deal is reached. This level of jobless claims was last recorded in 2007, and shows that the destruction of jobs is lower.

U.S. Jobless Claims

Continuing jobless claims for the period ended September 26 came in at 2.823M...