Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week than at any time since before the last recession, indicating bigger gains in hiring will soon follow.
Jobless claims decreased by 32,000 to 300,000 in the week ended April 5, the least since May 2007, seven months before the worst economic slump in the post-World War II era began, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. Another report showed rising gasoline prices were hurting consumer sentiment.
A drop in firings signal employers are optimistic sales will pick up following a weather-related slowdown at the start of the year, which will pave the way for bigger increases in employment as demand rebounds. More jobs and growing incomes would help lift confidence and provide a spark for consumer spending, which makes up the largest part of the economy.
“I’m pretty optimistic about the labor market,” said Thomas Simons, a money market economist at Jefferies LLC in New York, whose forecast for 310,000 claims was the lowest in the Bloomberg survey. “Slack in the labor force should start to be absorbed more quickly, and that should put some upward on wages as well.”
Article link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-10/jobless-claims-in-u-s-decline-to-lowest-level-since-may-2007.html