US jobs market gets a boost

FILINGS for initial unemployment benefits held below 400,000 for a fourth straight week as companies slowed the pace of firings from earlier this year, a government report showed.

Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 398,000, the Labor Department said in Washington.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure of the labour market, fell to 394,250, the lowest since mid-February, from 398,500. Weekly claims have been less than 400,000, which some economists consider the dividing line between job market expansion and contraction, for the longest spell since six weeks in January and February. That may suggest the worst is over as demand rises, and companies may grow more comfortable with hiring.

“Labour markets have improved modestly but remain relatively weak,’ said Steven Wood, principal economist at Insight Economics in California. “Although the pace of lay-offs has slowed, businesses have not yet begun to hire new workers.”

He said that may change before the end of the year as the economy accelerates.