Initial unemployment numbers in regular state programs totaled 751,000 in the week ended Oct. 24, down 40,000 from the prior week, Labor Department data showed Thursday. On an unadjusted basis, the figure fell by a little more than 28,000.
Proceeding claims, the total pool of Americans on ongoing state unemployment benefits, decreased 709,000 to 7.76 million in the week ended Oct. 17. Still, the number of Americans on long unemployment benefits rose, reflecting those who have consumed regular state benefits and rolled onto separate programs.
Economists called for 770,000 initial claims and 7.78 million continuing claims, according to the central measures in Bloomberg surveys.
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The numbers, the last snapshot of the labor market ahead of Tuesday’s election, mark an additional, yet progressive, recovery in the job market.
The government said Thursday that growth reflected sharply in the July-September quarter after an epic collapse in the spring, when the economy shrank at a 31.4% annual rate. Yet growth is believed to be slowing sharply in the final three months of the year to a roughly 3% annual rate.
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With Congress having failed to agree on any further stimulus this year, millions of unemployed Americans who will lose all their jobless benefits in the coming weeks and months will likely pull back further on spending. Without another round of loans from the government, many small companies will also go out of business.
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The drop in continuing claims corresponded again with an uptick in Americans on Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, a federal program that provides an additional 13 weeks of bonuses. That figure rose by more than 387,000 to 3.68 million in the week ended Oct. 10.
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A separate report on Thursday showed the economy expanded at a record 33.1% pace in the third quarter. But even with the outsize gain, gross domestic product is still below its pre-pandemic peak. Similarly, while weekly unemployment claims have improved significantly from April, they remain at more than three times their pre-crisis level.
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Data have been active over the last month after California stopped accepting new jobless claims for two weeks and briefly reported estimated numbers, increasing the national figures. Last week’s report showed revised data for California contributed to a drop in overall claims. The state also reported fewer claims in the most recent week.
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Florida, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina were among other states registering the biggest declines in the period ended Oct. 24. Claims jumped in Michigan, Virginia and Illinois.
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