Financial News: U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Inch Up To 222,000

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Inch Up To 222,000

(RTTNews) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged modestly higher in the week ended April 19th.

The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 222,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 216,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 221,000 from the 215,000 originally reported for the previous week.

"The jobless claims data for now are consistent with a labor market that is stable enough to allow the Federal Reserve to keep policy on hold while it monitors the path of inflation as tariffs kick in," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 220,250, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 221,000.

The report also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 37,000 to 1.841 million in the week ended April 12th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also slipped to 1,864,000, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,865,500.

"Continued claims have stabilized on a trend basis, but remain somewhat elevated, signaling that workers who lose their job are facing challenges in finding new employment," said Vanden Houten.

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