U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Rebound From Nearly Eleven-Month Low

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by more than expected in the week ended January 11th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 217,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level of 203,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 210,000 from the 201,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The bigger than expected increase came after jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 200,000 in the week ended February 17, 2024.

Ryan Sweet, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, said the rebound by jobless claims "doesn't raise a red flag," noting, "New filings remain comfortably below our estimate of the breakeven level, or that consistent with no monthly job growth."

"New filings could increase over the next couple of weeks because of the wildfires," he added. "Our preliminary estimate is that the wildfires will reduce January nonfarm employment between 20,000 and 25,000."

Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 212,750, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 213,500.

The Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell by 18,000 to 1.859 million in the week ended January 4th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dipped to 1,866,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,868,000.

A more closely watched report released by the Labor Department last Friday showed employment in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of December.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 256,000 jobs in December after jumping by a downwardly revised 212,000 jobs in November.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 227,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1 percent in December from 4.2 percent in November. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.