Initial jobless claims total 198K, continuing claims hit new pandemic low
Economists expected 208,000 claims
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The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week amid an increase in new COVID-19 cases.
Applications for initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 25 totaled 198,000, down from a revised 206,000 the prior week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting 208,000 total claims.
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Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, fell to 1.716 million, a decline from the prior week.
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There were about 11.03 million job openings in October, up from 10.6 million in September, according to the Labor Department. By comparison, there were about 7.4 million unemployed workers that month — meaning there are nearly 4 million more available jobs than there are workers.
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FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.