Initial Jobless Claims rose by 22,000 in the latest week, reaching their highest level since last August, as 231,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. Continuing Claims also rose 17,000, with 1.785 million people still receiving benefits after filing their initial claim.
What’s the bottom line? The jump in Initial Jobless Claims is a breakout for this metric, as it has been extremely stable at low levels for the last several months (ranging from 208,000 to 213,000 in nine of the last ten weeks before this latest report). Continuing Claims are also still trending near some of the hottest levels we’ve seen in recent years.
This data follows other recent reports that also suggested softening in the labor sector, such as weaker than expected job growth in April, declining job openings, and the low quit rate.