So much for holiday cheer.
The number of people filing for unemployment benefits exceeded expectations, hitting its highest point since July, a report released by the Department of Labor Thursday shows.
The amount of initial claims increased by a seasonally adjusted 20,000 to 287,000 during the week of Christmas.
Department of Labor report.
The four-week moving average increased by 4,500 to 277,000.
“The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 346,619 in the week ending December 26, an increase of 26,978 (or 8.4 percent) from the previous week,” the report reads. “The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 2,134 (or 0.7 percent) from the previous week.”
The number blew past Bloomberg economists’ prediction of 270,000 by 17,000.
While last week’s numbers shot up, the number is still slightly less than what was seen in 2014, which stood at 297,000. Claims have remained under 300,000 for the past 10 months.
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