The data from
the Labour Department announced
on Thursday that the number of applications for unemployment came in below expectations last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits climbed by 8,000 to 229,000
for the week ended June 1. This marked the highest
weekly total since early May.
Economists had predicted
220,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 221,000 from
the original estimate of 219,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims slipped to 222,250 compared to an upwardly revised 223,000 (from 222,500) in the
previous week. This represented the first decrease in five weeks.
As for continuing claims, they rose to 1,792,000 compared to a downwardly revised 1,790,000 (from 1,791,000) in the previous week.
This was the highest reading since early April.