U.S. jobless claims fall last week; initial claims for unemployment benefits filed by federal employees totaled 25,419 in the week ending

-RSS

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a report on Thursday.

In the week ending Jan. 19, initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 199,000, the lowest level since late 1969, according to the report. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 to 212,000.

The report also showed that four-week average fell 5,500 to 215,000 last week.
The report, however, showed that the ongoing partial government shutdown is having an impact on the claims data. The initial claims for unemployment benefits filed by federal employees totaled 25,419 in the week ending Jan. 12, compared with 1,658 the same week last year. The claims totaled 10,454 in the previous week, which ended on Jan. 5.

Federal employees file jobless claims under a separate program, and the figure is reported with a one-week lag.

Economists expect the record-long shutdown will push the unemployment rate above 4.0 percent in January as the furloughed workers would be considered unemployed, the CNBC reported.

The shutdown has affected a quarter of the federal government, forcing about 420,000 "essential" employees to work without pay, and 380,000 others to take unpaid leave.