The weekly claims of the weekly US decrease more than expected

Washington (Reuters) – The number of Americans applying new unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week, highlighting low layoffs, although employment opportunities are rare for those who are unemployed.

The first complaints for state unemployment benefits dropped by 16,000 for a 207,000 seasonally adjusted for the closed week on January 25, the Labor Department announced on Thursday. Economists interviewed by Reuters had planned 220,000 complaints for the last week.

While complaints remain at levels consistent with a labor market that continues to walk, consumers become less optimistic about their prospects for finding a job in the event of layoff.

This week’s board of directors has shown that the share of consumers reporting that the jobs were “abundant” fell to a hollow of four months in January. The proportion that considered jobs as “difficult to obtain” was the highest since October.

Companies have reduced the hiring in response to a still tight monetary policy and employers are also waiting to see how the policies of the new administration of President Donald Trump, including tax reductions, prices and deportations, are shaped Before adding workforce.

Economists have judged these inflationary policies. Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left its reference interest rate in the range of 4.25% to 4.50%, after having reduced by 100 base points since September, when the American central bank launched its cycle of softening politics.

In its policy statement, the Fed has removed a reference that inflation “has made progress” towards the target target of the Fed.

The number of people benefiting from services after a first week of aid, an indirect hiring indicator, decreased from 42,000 to a 1.858 million million seasonally adjusted during the week ending on January 18, according to the report complaints. The elevation of so-called continuous complaints underlines the reduction in employment possibilities.

Continuous data of complaints covered the period during which the government questioned households for the unemployment rate of January. The unemployment rate was 4.1% in December.

(Report by Lucia Mutikani; edition by Chizu Nomiyama)