First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw another modest increase in the week ended August 6th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The report showed initial jobless claims rose to 262,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 248,000.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 263,000 from the 260,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
With the increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 265,000 in the week ended November 13, 2021.<\/p>\n
“Weakening labor market dynamics lend upside risk to claims in the weeks ahead,” said Oren Klachkin, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n
He added, “However, we don’t anticipate a sharp increase in joblessness given that labor demand continues to outpace supply and the economy<\/span> remains on a positive, albeit modest, growth trajectory.”<\/p>\n The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also crept up to an eight-month high of 252,000, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 247,500.<\/p>\n Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also edged up by 8,000 to 1.428 million in the week ended July 30th.<\/p>\n The four-week moving average of continuing claims rose to 1,399,250, an increase of 23,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,375,500.<\/p>\n “Looking ahead, a tight labor market and our expectation that more workers will return to the labor force are expected to keep a lid on continued claims,” Klachkin said.<\/p>\n Last Friday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of July.<\/p>\n The report showed non-farm payroll employment spiked by 528,000 jobs in July after surging by an upwardly revised 398,000 jobs in June.<\/p>\n Economists had expected employment to climb by about 250,000 jobs compared to the addition of 372,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down to 3.5 percent July from 3.6 percent in June. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged. <\/p>\n