US jobless claims rise more than expected in week to 8 August

Jobless claims – which track new and continuing unemployment insurance filings – have been one of the strongest labour market indicators for most of the previous year.

However, the report showed a continued decrease by the less volatile four-week moving average, which fell to 266,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 268,000.

Though claims have risen for three straight weeks, they have remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is associated with a firming jobs markets, for 23 consecutive weeks.

Economists had forecast claims to be unchanged at 270,000 last week. Applications for unemployment benefits in the US are hovering close to a four-decade low, a sign of muted firings and steady progress in the labor market, according to Bloomberg. Non-seasonally adjusted claims were down 11% y/y for the week, and no special factors were reported by the Labor Department in this morning’s report.

Employers hired almost 5.2 million people in June, the government said Wednesday, the most in six months and the second-highest total since the Great Recession ended in 2009.

Claims hit a low of 255,000 in mid-July, the lowest level since the fall of 1973, but have since rebounded a bit.

Limited dismissals have been accompanied by steady hiring. U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 215,000 jobs to payrolls in July, the Labor Department said last week.

This supports the view that the Federal Reserve will likely decide to increase interest rates for the first time since 2006 at their next meeting in mid-September. Prices of merchandise and materials imported to the U.S. dropped 0.9 percent in July, the biggest decline since January.