The weekly number of jobless claims was slightly lower last week than forecast, and the economic growth rate to 2021 was slightly greater than previously reported according to Thursday’s government data.
The week ended February 19th saw 232,000 unemployment insurance filings. the Labor Department said.It was just below the Dow Jones estimate of 235,000 and was down 17,000 compared to the week before.
Another report revealed that the gross domestic product (a total of all products and services in the U.S.) increased at an annualized rate of 7% during the fourth-quarter, according to the Commerce Department.
On the job side, 1.48 Million in continuing claims was reported. This is a decrease of 112,000 over the week before and the lowest figure since March 14, 1971.
According to February 5, data, the total number of people receiving government benefits fell just slightly to 2.03 million. This level continues to decline as Covid-19 pandemicAll programs that are jobless-related have been discontinued.
Although the employment picture has improved, the overall level of employment is still about 1.7million below the February 2020 levels, right before the pandemic. Since the crisis of 14,7%, unemployment has dropped to 4.4%.
The GDP reading was revised slightly from 6.9%, which is in line with market expectations. Full-year growth was 5.7%. This is the highest rate since 1984. It was driven by strong inventory rebuilds in the second half.
Thanks to an increase in fixed investment contributions and increased spending from the states and local governments, this change was higher. Some gains were offset by downward revisions in consumer spending and exports.