Financial News: U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Climb More Than Expected

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Climb More Than Expected To 240,000

(RTTNews) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended May 24th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 240,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level of 226,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 230,000 from the 227,000 originally reported for the previous week.

"The latest jobless claims data hint at some loosening in labor market conditions, but we won't read too much into one week of data," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "Initial claims rose to their highest level in four weeks in the week ended May 24, but on a trend basis were little changed."

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 230,750, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 231,000.

The report also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 26,000 to 1.919 million in the week ended May 17th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims crept up to 1,890,250, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 1,887,500.

With the uptick, the four-week moving average of continuing claims reached its highest level since November 2021.

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