Recovery in the labor market is being aided by expansion of vaccines and higher wages.
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment fell to a pandemic-era low of 269,000 last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
The number beat expectations of 275,000 and remains below the 300,000 mark that suggests the recovery in the labor market continues as the delta variant of the coronavirus wanes.
The four-week moving average was 284,750, down 15,000 from the prior period's revised level. Both readings were the lowest for the measure since March, 2020 when the pandemic began.
The report comes one day ahead of the government's monthly reading on the job market for October, with forecasts for around 400,000 new jobs created following a disappointing 194,000 in September.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged the improvement in the labor market Wednesday when the central bank announced plans to begin "tapering" its $120-billion-per-month purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Powell said the Fed would begin later this month reducing those purchases by $15 billion monthly with an eye to completing the cutback by the middle of next year.
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