The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday that the number of applications for unemployment matched expectations last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 3,000 to 221,000 for the week that ended November 2. This
marked the first gain in first-time unemployment claims in four weeks.
Economists had foreseen
221,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 218,000 from the original estimate of 216,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims dropped to 227,250 from an upwardly revised 237,000 (from 236,500) in the previous week. This was the lowest count in five weeks.
As for
continuing claims, they rose to 1,892,000 from a downwardly revised
1,853,000 (from 1,862,000) in the previous week. This represented the highest
reading since late mid-November 2021. Economists
had forecast continuing jobless claims of 1,880,000.