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U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Inch Up Slightly More Than Expected
(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended April 15th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims crept up to 245,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 240,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 240,000 from the 239,000 originally reported for the previous week.
"Initial claims stayed on their upward trajectory, indicating labor market tightness is easing modestly, but layoffs are far from broad-based and have not caused a spike in the unemployed," said Oren Klachkin, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
He added, "We expect a swifter rise in claims will wait until the second half of the year when the economy enters a recession, though the labor market downturn will be less severe by historic standards."
Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 239,750, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 240,250.
The Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, climbed by 61,000 to 1.865 million in the week ended April 8th.
The four-week moving of continuing claims also rose to 1,827,250 from the previous week's revised average 1,812,000, reaching the highest level since hitting 1,838,000 in December 2021.
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