US Unemployment Claims Rose by 3,000

September 29, 2016 Share Print 0

More Americans sought unemployment benefits last week but the number of applications remained low, the latest sign that layoffs are scarce.

The Labor Department says weekly applications for jobless aid rose 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 254,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, ticked down to 256,000, matching a 43-year low first reached in April.

The economy is expanding at a sluggish pace, growing just 1.4 percent in the April-June quarter. But businesses are hiring steadily and holding tightly to their staffs. With the unemployment rate low at 4.9 percent, many employers say they can’t find qualified workers for open positions. That makes them reluctant to cut jobs.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. Any figure below 300,000 is a sign of a healthy job market.

via CNBC

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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.