Jobless Claims At 27-Year Low

New claims for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in nearly 27 years, highlighting the difficulty employers are having in trying to find people to hire in a booming economy.

“Demand for new workers is certainly approaching the point where it’s close to exceeding supply,” said economist Richard Yamarone of Argus Research Corp. “These are euphoric times in the labor market, with conditions not seen in decades.”

The surging economy has generated robust job growth which has driven the nation’s unemployment rate down to near three-decade lows.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell an unexpected 9,000 to 257,000 for the week ending April 15. Many analysts had predicted that claims would rise slightly.