US initial jobless claims rise less than expected
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, according to data from the Labor Department.
US initial jobless claims were up 5,000 to 239,00 from the previous week’s unrevised level. Analysts had expected claims to jump to 245,000.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average came in at 245,250, up 500 from the previous week’s average, which was revised up from 244,250.
The four-week average is considered more reliable as it smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly figures, giving a more accurate picture of the health of the labour market.
Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "It is becoming very hard now to argue that the trend in claims remains somewhere north of 250K; over the past couple of months it appears to have fallen again to new cycle lows, in absolute terms, and new all-time lows as a share of the payroll employment. This is a remarkable development but is consistent with the upturn in most of the survey based indicators of employment since last fall.
"Companies want to hire, but are struggling to find the people they want, so it makes sense that the pace of layoffs is falling. In short, these numbers support our view that the trend in payroll growth in the first half of this year will be over 200K per month, pushing the unemployment rate down further and ratcheting up the pressure on wages."