Last Week's Drop in Initial Jobless Claims, Other Data Suggest Tight Labor Market
WASHINGTON -- First-time claims for state unemployment insurance slipped by 2,000 to 301,000 last week, indicating the labor market remains extremely tight, the Labor Department said.</br></br>The four-week moving average for claims -- considered a better gauge of labor-market conditions -- fell by 4,000 to 303,000 for the week, the lowest level since Aug. 7, 1997.</br></br>In a separate report earlier in the week, the Labor Department said the number of American workers laid off from 1995 to 1997 dropped sharply from the prior three-year period. A total of 3.6 million workers were "displaced," according to the government's biannual survey, down nearly 15% from 1993-95. The study includes data from 1995 in both time periods.</br></br>The study, reported in yesterday's New York Times, also found that getting laid off caused less trouble for workers as the economy improved. About three-fourths of people who lost jobs from 1995-97 found new jobs fairly quickly, a slight improvement over 1993-95.</br></br>More than half of those who found new jobs earned as much or more than they had in their earlier jobs, a seven-percentage-point improvement over 1993-95. And while one in four laid-off workers suffered an income drop of 20% or more when they were re-employed, that was down from the one-third who saw such a decline in 1993-95.