After reporting modest decreases in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits for five straight weeks, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an uptick in jobless claims in the week ended September 17th.<\/p>\n
The report showed initial jobless claims inched up to 213,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 208,000.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 218,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
The modest increase came after jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since the week ended May 28th in the previous week.<\/p>\n
“While overall economic activity is expected to slow, leading to a mild recession in H1 2023, the low level of claims is a reminder that labor market conditions remain extremely tight,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead US Economist at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n
She added, “The imbalance between the supply and demand for workers is key factor behind the Fed’s plans to continue aggressively raising interest rates.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average slipped to a three-month low of 216,750, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 222,750.<\/p>\n
The report showed continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also dipped by 22,000 to 1.379 million in the week ended September 10th.<\/p>\n
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also edged down to 1,404,750, a decrease of 8,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,413,000. <\/p>\n