A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed by much more than expected in the week ended November 11th.<\/p>\n
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 231,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 218,000.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 217,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
With the bigger than expected, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 232,000 in the week ended August 19th.<\/p>\n
“The claims data are consistent with a job market that is cooling enough to keep rate hikes off the table, but too strong to make rate cuts a consideration any time soon,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n
She added, “The Fed is surely encouraged by recent inflation data but needs to see a further slowdown in the labor market and wage growth to be persuaded that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%.”<\/p>\n
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also climbed to 220,250, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 212,500.<\/p>\n
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also rose by 32,000 to 1.865 million, reaching the highest level since November 201.<\/p>\n
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also advanced to 1,823,250, an increase of 34,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,788,750.<\/p>\n
“The upturn in continued claims suggests that unemployed individuals are finding it more difficult to find new jobs, which would be consistent with a slower pace of hiring,” said Vanden Houten. <\/p>\n