The U.S. Labor Department's latest report, published on Thursday, indicated that initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States rose more than anticipated for the week ending January 11th. According to the Labor Department, new jobless claims increased to 217,000, up by 14,000 from the prior week's adjusted figure of 203,000. This exceeded economists' predictions, who had forecasted a rise to 210,000 from the initially reported 201,000 claims for the preceding week.
This unexpected rise occurred following a decline in claims to their lowest point since they hit 200,000 for the week ending February 17, 2024. Ryan Sweet, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, commented that the increase in claims does not signal major concern, noting that "new filings remain comfortably below our breakeven estimate—indicative of no overall monthly job growth."
Sweet further suggested the possibility of increased filings in the upcoming weeks due to the wildfires, estimating that these events could reduce January's nonfarm employment by 20,000 to 25,000 jobs.
The report also noted that the less volatile four-week moving average slightly decreased to 212,750, down 750 from the previous week's revised average of 213,500. Continuing claims, representing the number of individuals receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, fell by 18,000 to 1.859 million for the week ending January 4th. The four-week moving average for continuing claims also saw a reduction to 1,866,750, down 1,250 from the revised average of 1,868,000 for the prior week.
A separate, closely observed report from the Labor Department, released last Friday, revealed that U.S. employment surged more than anticipated in December. Nonfarm payroll employment escalated by 256,000 jobs in December, following a downwardly adjusted increase of 212,000 jobs in November. Economists had projected a rise of 160,000 jobs, contrasting with the initially reported addition of 227,000 jobs for November.
Moreover, the report stated that the unemployment rate slightly declined to 4.1 percent in December, down from November's 4.2 percent, contrary to economists' expectations of no change.
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