The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment
benefits rose slightly more than expected last week, but the
underlying trend continued to suggest the labor market was
tightening.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000
to a seasonally adjusted 274,000 for the week ended May 16, the
Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were
unrevised.
Despite last week's increase, claims remained below 300,000, a
threshold associated with a strengthening labor market, for an 11th
straight week. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims
rising to 271,000 last week.
A Labor Department analyst said there was nothing unusual in the
state-level data and no states had been estimated.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, fell 5,500 last week to 266,250. That was the lowest
level since April 2000.
The claims data covered the period during which the government
surveyed employers for the payrolls portion of May's employment
report. The four-week average of claims fell 18,750 between the
April and May survey period, suggesting another month of job growth
above 200,000.
Outside the energy sector, which has lost thousands of jobs
so far this year as oilfield companies like Schlumberger , Baker
Hughes and Halliburton respond to sharply lower crude oil
prices, layoffs have been very minimal.
The labor market is tightening despite a sluggish economy
that has been characterized by tepid consumer spending, as well
as weak business investment and manufacturing activity.
Nonfarm payrolls rose 223,000 in April and the unemployment
rate slipped to a near seven-year low of 5.4 percent.
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 12,000 to
2.21 million in the week ended May 9. That was the lowest level
since November 2000.
The unemployment rate among people receiving benefits fell
0.1 percentage point to 1.6 percent, the lowest since July 2000.
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