In an unexpected development, initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States increased for the week ending December 7th, as reported by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report indicated that first-time unemployment claims climbed to 242,000, marking a rise of 17,000 from the prior week's revised figure of 225,000. This uptick defied economists' predictions, who had anticipated a decrease to 220,000 from the preliminary figure of 224,000 recorded for the preceding week.
This marks the second week in a row where jobless claims have risen, regaining momentum after reaching their lowest level in over six months. Alongside this, the Labor Department noted that the less volatile four-week moving average increased to 224,250, up by 5,750 compared to the previous week’s adjusted average of 218,500.
In terms of ongoing unemployment assistance, continuing claims rose by 15,000, reaching 1.886 million for the week ending November 30th. The four-week moving average for these continued claims also increased by 3,500 to 1.888 million, the highest figure since it reached 1.928 million during the week ending November 27, 2021.
Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, commented, “Continued claims remain elevated in states experiencing recent layoffs or those heavily impacted by the fall hurricanes.” She further noted, “The high level of continued claims aligns with other data indicating that unemployed workers face greater challenges in securing new employment.”
Last Friday, the Labor Department released its widely followed monthly employment report, highlighting that job growth exceeded expectations in November. According to the report, non-farm payroll employment surged by 227,000 jobs for the month, following a revised increase of 36,000 in October. This result surpassed economist projections, which foresaw an employment rise of 200,000 jobs, compared to the initially reported increase of 12,000 jobs for October.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate nudged up slightly to 4.2 percent in November, from 4.1 percent in October. This modest rise was in line with economist forecasts.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company -
www.instaforex.com
