Washington: New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits last week held to the recent low levels that have underpinned the tightening US jobs market, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, came in at 287,000 in the week to October 25, up slightly from 283,000 the previous week.
The four-week moving average was 281,000, compared to 352,500 a year ago.
In its new policy statement Wednesday, the Federal Reserve turned more optimistic about employment, saying that worrisome slack in the market appeared to be diminishing as job creation has picked up this year.
With the US jobless rate now at 5.9 percent, the Fed wound up its asset buying stimulus program that dates back to the 2008 crisis, citing "substantial improvement" in the labor market.
