The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, allaying fears of a major setback in the labor market recovery.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 352,000 the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week’s number was revised to show 2,000 more applications than previously reported.
A Labor Department analyst said claims for California and Kentucky had been estimated.
Despite the increase last week, which was broadly in line with economists’ expectations, claims held near a level economists normally associate with average monthly job gains of more than 150,000.
That helped to further ease concerns of a deterioration in labor market conditions after nonfarm payrolls posted their smallest increase in nine months in March.
“We had a lot of volatility since the end of the quarter. This is a fairly clean, stable number. There is some slight strengthening in labor conditions but nothing dramatic,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities in Stamford, Connecticut.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor
via Jobless claims data calms concerns on labor market | Reuters.
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