The number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the United States jumped last week, hitting the highest level in a month, according to a report from the Labor Department released Thursday.
Initial jobless claims for the week ended September 18 reached 351,000, an increase from the previous week’s 335,000 and well ahead of the 320,000 Dow Jones estimate. This figure is the highest since the week of August 21, 2021.
Continuing claims for state benefits also increased, rising 181,000 to total more than 2.84 million in the week ended September 11.
The initial jobless claims news did little to shake the markets, with stock market futures pointing to a strong opening and government bond yields slightly higher on the session.
The rise in claims indicates that while the jobs market has broadly declined since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still a lot of work to be done before it is healed.
Join our Trading Community for more signals!
The four-week moving average for initial claims is now at 335,750, a decrease of 750 from a week ago. Prior to the pandemic declaration, that total was around 215,000. A year ago at this time, it was at 869,000.
Looking ahead, economic growth is poised to slow in the third quarter amid the Federal Reserves’ pullback in stimulus spending.
