The number of Americans filing recent applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting the labor trade continued to chug along and that the abrupt slowdown in job growth in October was an aberration.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 for the week ended Nov. 9, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had approximate 223,000 claims for the latest week.

Claims surged in early October amid distortions from Hurricanes Helene and Milton as a well as a strike by factory workers at Boeing BA.N, but layoffs have remained historically low, which is underpinning the economy.

“While many employment-related indicators point to a significant softening in labor trade conditions this year, that transformation has not carried over to the unemployment insurance data thus far,” said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP.

Though it might receive some period for the areas devastated by Helene to recover, economists are optimistic that job growth will regain steam in November also as the Boeing strike ended, allowing the plane maker to scrap rolling furloughs it had implemented to conserve liquid assets. Nonfarm payrolls increased by a mere 12,000 jobs in October, the fewest in nearly four years.

More:October jobs update shows slower hiring in the wake of strikes, hurricanes

Easing labor trade conditions are expected to inspire the Federal safety net to deliver a third profit rate cut next month, even as advancement lowering worth rise has stalled. The U.S. central lender last week cut its point of reference overnight profit rate by 25 basis points to the 4.50%-4.75% range.

The Fed initiated its policy easing pattern with an unusually large half-percentage-point rate cut in September, the first reduction in borrowing costs since 2020. It hiked rates by 525 basis points in 2022 and 2023 to tame worth rise.

The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, decreased 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.873 million during the week ending Nov. 2, the claims update showed. The decline in the so-called continuing claims likely reflected the complete of Boeing-related furloughs and waning disruptions from the hurricanes.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama