US jobs market much tighter than previously thought, claims data reveals

The US labour market was far tighter than previously thought, the weekly jobless claims data revealed.

According to the Department of Labor, initial unemployment claims declined by 5,000 over the week ending on 2 April to reach just 166,000.

That was far less than the 205,000 print anticipated by economists at Barclays Research.

Critical to that outcome, as a result of Labor's annual revisions to its seasonal adjustment factors, it also marked down its preliminary estimate for the level of claims during the week ending on 26 March by 31,000 to 171,000.

The four-week moving average, which aims to smooth out the fluctuations in the often volatile data from one week to the next fell by 8,000 to 170,000.

Secondary unemployment claims meanwhile, which are those not being filed for the first time and that reference the week until 26 March, edged up by 17,000 to 1.523m.