The number of jobless claims climbed again in the week ending Jan. 17, hitting their highest point since July, a Thursday report from the Department of Labor shows.
Initial filings for unemployment benefits increased by a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 293,000, while the moving average shot up by 6,500 to 285,000.
DOL Report
The previous week’s average was revised down by 250, dropping to 278,000 claims.
“The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 377,730 in the week ending January 16, a decrease of 125,174 (or -24.9 percent) from the previous week,” the report reads. “The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 137,491 (or -27.3 percent) from the previous week”
It is still lower than what was seen the same week in 2015, which stood at 383,538.
While the number of jobless claims exceeded expectations, economists said the trend would need to continue for a longer period of time to prove the labor market was truly declining.
“As long as the trend continues to be gradual, it’s not excessively worrying. We are going to see more moderate job growth as the labor market continues to tighten,” Gregory Daco, head of U.S. macroeconomics at Oxford Economics USA in New York, told Bloomberg.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.