New weekly US jobs claims post ‘surprise’ rise

April 8, 2010 18:04


New claims for unemployment insurance benefits in the United States unexpectedly rose last week, government data showed Thursday in a mixed report on the troubled labor market.

via Breitbart

New claims for unemployment insurance benefits in the United States unexpectedly rose last week, government data showed Thursday in a mixed report on the troubled labor market.

Initial jobless claims increased by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 460,000 in the week ending April 3, the Labor Department said, revising slightly upward the prior week’s reading to 442,000.

The rise surprised most analysts who had expected new claims to fall to 435,000 and snap two weeks of declines.

The headline figure was the highest number of new claims since February 27. Since starting a downward trend in late March 2009, claims have risen in eight of the past 14 weeks this year.

“Though this reversed some of the recent improvement, it should not be cause for alarm, as claims tend to be more volatile around holidays; the latest data point coincided with the week leading up to Easter,” said Andrew Gledhill at Moody’s Economy.com.

“This week’s increase in initial claims should not be seen as a reason to doubt that the slower layoff trend is persisting.”

According to a four-week moving average, which smooths some volatility in the weekly figures, new claims rose 0.5 percent to 450,250.

However, the weekly Labor Department report also included signs of slight improvement in the jobs market, where nearly one in 10 workers is unemployed.

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