U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remain At Highest Level Since October 2021

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits were unchanged in the week ended June 17th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims came in at 264,000, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 260,000 from the 262,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Reflecting the upward revision to the previous week, jobless claims held at their highest level since hitting 269,000 in the week ended October 23, 2021.

“Initial jobless claims came in a touch higher than expected in the week ended June 17, providing further evidence that labor market conditions are loosening, if only modestly,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. “That is welcome by the Fed but may not be enough to dissuade them from raising rates again in July.”

The Labor Department also said the less volatile four-week moving average rose to 255,750, an increase of 8,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 247,250.

The increase lifted the four-week moving average to its highest level since reaching 260,000 in the week ended November 13, 2021.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 13,000 to 1.759 million in the week ended June 10th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dipped to 1,770,000, a decrease of 7,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,777,500.

“After drifting higher for several months, continued claims have trended lower more recently, signaling that labor markets are still tight and that workers who are laid off still have plenty of job opportunities,” said Vanden Houten.

“We expect that jobless claims will rise later in the year as the economy weakens and falls into a mild recession,” she added. “Given the difficulties employers have faced hiring workers following the pandemic, we expect job losses in this recession will be relatively small compared to prior recessions.”

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