U.S. initial jobless claims edge down again last week to 190k

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- The U.S. labor market continued to defy forecasts for a slowdown last week, as the number of people filing initial claims for jobless benefits fell again.

Initial jobless claims edged down to 190,000 from 192,000 the previous week, again failing to corroborate the visible rise in layoffs across much of the U.S. economy. Analysts had expected a modest rise in initial claims to 195,000.

Continuing claims, meanwhile, stayed stuck at 1.65 million. After rising from a historic low of 1.3 million in the middle of last year, continuing claims - which are seen as a better indicator of how easy or difficult it is for the newly unemployed to find work - have drifted marginally lower through the first two months of 2023.

The data are the only labor market numbers due from the U.S. this week, with the key nonfarm payrolls report pushed back to March 10th.

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