New claims for US unemployment benefits jumped more than expected last week, official data showed Thursday on the eve of the key June jobs report.
Initial claims for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 472,000 in the week ending June 26, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised level of 459,000, the Labor Department said. The leap was sharply higher than the consensus analyst forecast of 458,000 claims. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out weekly volatility, rose 0.7 percent to 466,500.
“The trend has generally been moving higher in recent weeks, suggesting that the labor market is perhaps starting to weaken,” said Andrew Gledhill at Moody’s Economy.com.
In the previous week ending June 19, the insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate, the department said. The number of people collecting unemployment insurance benefits in the week to June 19 rose by 43,000 to 4,616,000, while the four-week moving average slipped 0.5 percent to 4,567,500.
Gledhill called recent moves in claims “troubling.” “In typical job market recoveries, claims would be much lower — below 400,000 — but in the current situation they have remained stubbornly elevated. Part of the explanation is that hiring is very low, potentially prompting a greater share of unemployed than is typical to file for benefits coming out of a recession.”
The weekly jobless claims data came on the eve of the department’s key June jobs report, widely expected to show worsening conditions. Most analysts expect the data Friday will show the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in June, and the economy shed 100,000 nonfarm jobs after adding 431,000 in the prior month, mainly temporary government jobs for the 2010 census.
Washington, July 1, 2010 (AFP)
