US jobless claims declined last week while still elevated

[NEW YORK] The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell for a second week while remaining elevated, as the labour market makes scant progress amid risks of further weakness without additional federal stimulus.

Initial jobless claims in regular state programmes decreased by 9,000 to 840,000 in the week ended Oct 3, with the prior week's figure revised higher by 12,000, Labor Department figures showed Thursday. Continuing claims, the total number of Americans on state benefit rolls, fell to 11 million in the week ended Sept 26, a bigger-than-expected drop.

Economists expected initial claims of 820,000 and for continuing claims of 11.4 million, according to median estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

The report came with the same major caveat as last week: The figures from California, the most populous state, used numbers identical to the previous week because the state temporarily halted acceptance of new applications for two weeks to improve its systems and address a backlog of filings.

The slight drop in new claims underscores the gradual improvement that the labour market has seen since the initial lockdowns of the pandemic eased. Even so, recent layoff announcements from companies including Walt Disney and Allstate as well as multiple airlines could start showing up in the numbers in the coming weeks.

At the same time, President Donald Trump's mixed messages on additional federal stimulus have fueled more uncertainty across the world's largest economy as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warns it will face longer-lasting scars and a weak recovery without sufficient aid.

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