US Jobless Claims Rise Employment Trend is Still Positive

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but that probably does not signal a material shift in labor market conditions as claims remain near their pre-recession levels.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 315,000 for the week ended Sept. 6, the highest level since late June, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 300,000 last week.

 
The period included the Labor Day holiday and claims tend to be volatile around holidays. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the state level data.

The four-week average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, edged up 750 to 304,000, not far from pre-recession levels and consistent with strengthening labor market conditions.

Atlantic City casino closings could bump up claims in the coming weeks.

U.S. Treasury debt prices held their modest gains, while the dollar and U.S. stock index futures were little moved by the data.

Job growth braked sharply in August, with employers adding only 142,000 jobs to their payrolls – snapping six consecutive months of job increases above 200,000.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza