Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, illustrating a healthy labor market that's allowing workers to feel more secure in their jobs.
For 57 consecutive weeks, initial claims have been below the 300,000 level that economists say is typically consistent with an improving job market. That's the longest stretch since 1973.
Claims dropped by 9,000 to 267,000 in the week ended Saturday, the Labor Department said. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 270,000.
Weekly applications have been below 300,000 for longer than a year as steady demand encourages employers to retain those who are qualified and experienced. The low level of dismissals has been accompanied by a steady drumbeat of hiring, propping up consumer spending and the economy.
"Layoffs are still running at low levels," Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pa., said before the report. "The job market continues to chug along."
While unemployment claims for Louisiana were estimated last week, there was nothing unusual in the figures, the Labor Department said.
Economists' estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 261,000 to 290,000. Applications from the week before were unrevised at 276,000.
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly claims numbers, increased to 266,750 last week from 263,250.
The number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose by 19,000 to 2.19 million in the week ended March 26, more than the Bloomberg survey median forecast.
Businesses appear unfazed by the economy's current weakness, with some analysts forecasting that growth may slip below a 1 percent annual rate in the first three months of this year.
That suggests many companies may see the slowdown as temporary. Hiring has remained solid, as employers added 215,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said on April 1. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5 percent, from 4.9 percent, but for mostly a good reason: Many people who hadn't been searching for work started job hunts last month.
Most found jobs, but not all were immediately hired. That increased the number of unemployed.
Initial joblessness claims reflect weekly firings, and a sustained low level of applications has typically coincided with faster job gains. Layoffs may also reflect company- or industry-specific causes, such as cost-cutting or business restructuring, rather than underlying labor market trends.
At the same time, last year's plunge in commodities prices, weaker global demand and a strong dollar have prompted producers to reduce headcount.
In March, manufacturing employment slumped by the most since December 2009, the payrolls report showed.
U.S. Steel said Thursday it is cutting 25 percent of its nonunion workforce in North America, or roughly 750 jobs.
The Pittsburgh-based steel producer has about 21,000 employees in North America and about 18,000 are represented by the United Steelworkers union at last count.
It is the latest in a series of recent job cuts at United States Steel Co., which is struggling with the impact of falling oil prices, increased imports from China and other factors that have hurt demand and lowered steel prices.
"This is part of the ongoing adjustment to staff levels and operations due to challenging market conditions, including fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts, depressed steel prices and unfairly traded imports," Sarah Cassella, a spokesman for U.S. Steel, said in an email.
On Wednesday, Fiat Chrysler said it planned to indefinitely lay off 1,300 employees at a Detroit-area factory.
Workers on the second shift at Fiat Chrysler's assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., will be furloughed starting July 5 as the slow-selling Chrysler 200 has started to stack up on dealer lots. It's the company's first indefinite layoff since 2009, when demand for cars and trucks dropped as the nation rebounded from a recession.
Chevron Corp. said Thursday it's cutting 655 jobs in Houston as part of previously announced layoffs.
The San Ramon, Calif.-based company said it was making the cuts "in light of the current market environment," with lower oil prices causing companies across the industry to reduce jobs and make cuts. It said it's offering at least six weeks' of severance to affected employees.
The news comes after a year in which the energy sector lost 95,000 jobs by one estimate.
Information for this article was contributed by Shobhana Chandra and Jordan Yadoo of Bloomberg News and by Christopher S. Rugaber and Tom Krisher of The Associated Press.
Business on 04/08/2016