Washington — The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, but the near-term outlook for the labour market was muddied by the continuing effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Other data on Thursday showed manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region accelerated in September amid a surge in new orders. But hiring by factories slowed and employees worked fewer hours in September compared to August. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended September 16, the labour department said. A labour department official said Harvey and Irma affected claims for Texas and Florida. With Hurricane Maria lashing Puerto Rico this week, weather is likely to continue to affect claims data and potentially hurt job growth in September. Texas and Florida account for about 14% of US employment. "The noise will overwhelm any signal in these data for several weeks," said John Ryding, chief ec...
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