Jobless Claims Fall Below Estimates

New jobless claims for benefits in the week ending on May 20 tallied at 229,000, an increase of 4,000 from the revised estimate for the previous week.

Economists predicted around 250,000 unemployment claims. The previous week’s level had been revised down by around 17,000 as it went from 242,000 to 225,000. This just demonstrates that claims have gone down than what was forecasted. The revised number also shows that claims have tanked to the lowest level in 10 weeks.

In Massachusetts, a high level of fraudulent claims have been found and subsequently lowered estimates significantly

The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, was 231,750, the same as the revised average from the prior week. The previous week's average was reduced by 12,500, falling from 244,250 to 231,750.

The low volume of claims suggests that the labor market is not cooling as quickly as some observers predicted. This might help those on the Federal Reserve who want to keep hiking rates this year to combat inflation.

Continuing claims are recorded a week later. This declined to 1,794,000 in the week ending May 13, a 5,000 decrease from the previous week's unrevised figure of 1,799,000. The four-week moving average of continuing claims dropped to 1,800,250, a 12,250 reduction from the previous week's unrevised average of 1,812,500.