Jobless claims plummeted by 19,000 filings to 284,000 for the week ended July 19, the lowest level for initial claims since Feb. 18, 2006 when there were 283,000 claims, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 302,000 to 303,000.
However, the news is not all rosy for the jobs market.
“Despite an impressive outsized decline in weekly claims this morning, the U.S. labor market remains under pressure,” Lindsey Piegza, chief economist with Sterne Agee said.
“On the positive side, initial jobless claims continue to trend down and headline job creation has gained momentum surpassing 200k for the past several months. However, neither of these improvements has translated in wage pressures, a presumed prerequisite for rate hikes,” Piegza said.
“At what point does part-time and temporary job creation translate into wage pressures? There are currently 7 million Americans involuntarily working part-time, meaning they would rather work full-time,” she continued.
This falls in line with June’s jobs report, which posted that the economy added 288,000 jobs in June. However, it was mostly because part-time jobs grew by 799,000 while full-time jobs decreased by 523,000.
Everyone agrees that housing is stalling out despite stabilizing prices and record low interest rates, and the reason is because what’s missing is a jobs recovery.
Meanwhile, the 4-week moving average fell to 302,000, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week's revised average, the lowest level since May 19, 2007 when it was 302,000.
The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 309,000 to 309,250.
