New Jobless Claims Fall 34,000 to 444,000, Slightly Better Than Expected

New jobless claims fell 34,000 to 444,000 for the week ended May 15th, data from the Department of Labor showed Thursday.

Economists had expected claims to fall to 460,000 from the initially reported 4730,000 in the prior week. The prior week was revised up to 478,000.

The 4-week moving average—which smoothes out data that is often volatile week to week—fell to 504,750, a decrease of 30,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

Initial claims hit a record 6.87 million for the week of March 27, 2020, more than ten times the previous record. This year has seen immense progress in bringing down the number of new claims, as mass layoffs have been offset by a huge hiring spree. Yet job creation fell far short of estimates in April and many businesses have said they are having difficulty hiring workers.

Continuing claims get reported with a week’s delay. For the week ended May 8, continuing claims rose 3,751,000, an increase of 111,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 15,000 from 3,655,000 to 3,640,000.