WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment checks dropped last week to the lowest level since March, suggesting that most U.S. workers continue to enjoy unusually high job security.
Jobless claims dropped by 9,000 to 211,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which strips out week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 3,500 to 223,250.
The overall numbers receiving unemployment benefits fell by 52,000 to 1.84 million, the lowest since September.
Thomas Simons and Sam Saliba, economists at Jefferies, called the drops “encouraging’’ in a commentary but cautioned that seasonal adjustments around the holidays can throw off the numbers.
The U.S. job market has cooled considerably from the red-hot hiring days of 2021-2023 when the economy was bounding back from COVID-19 lockdowns.
A frustrated Zephyrhills homeowner still has flooded yard months after Hurricane Milton.
