Last week’s number of unemployment claims likely set the tone for a new pandemic-era low as the figures came in at 553,000.
The latest report from the US Department of Labour revealed that in the past week, 498,000 people filed for the first time for unemployment, hitting a fresh pandemic-era low. The numbers came lower than the 540,000 expected. As the mobility restrictions continue to be lifted, the improvement’s pace has accelerated in the past few weeks. Moreover, the fact that the US is currently vaccinating more than 2 million people daily helped.
In a separate report, the non-farm business labour productivity (the annualized change in labour efficiency when producing goods and services, excluding the farming industry) reached 5.4% in the first quarter, above the 4.3% estimated.
However, experts believe that there is still a long way to go for the labour market to heal from the pandemic’s impact fully.
Now all eyes are on tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls for April. Economists believe that the economy added another 1 million jobs, mainly in the hospitality sector.
Following the reports, the dollar-driven instruments such as USA30 and USA500 added 0.10% and 0.07%, respectively. At the moment of writing, the Dollar Index is trading 0.30% lower at 91.03.
Sources: cnbc.com, forexfactory.com