The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for the first time, last week decreased by 3 thousand – to 183 thousand people, according to the report of the U.S. Department of Labor. This is the minimum value since April 2022.

A week earlier, this indicator amounted to 186 thousand.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, on average, predicted an increase in the number of applications to 195 thousand.

The average number of claims over the past four weeks, a less volatile indicator, fell 5.75 thousand to 191.5 thousand, the lowest since early May.

The number of Americans continuing to receive unemployment benefits for the week ended January 21, decreased to 1.655 million from a revised 1.666 million a week earlier.

Experts on average expected this figure to rise to 1.677 million compared to the previously announced level of the previous week at 1.675 million.