The claims report was released a day early because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 240,000 from the latest week.
Last week marked the 142nd straight week which claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is usually associated using a strong labor market. which is usually the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller.
The labor market is usually near full employment, with the jobless rate at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent. The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as the item irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 1,250 to 239,750 last week.
The claims data covered the survey period for the nonfarm payrolls component of November’s employment report. The four-week average of claims fell 8,750 between the October in addition to November survey weeks, suggesting steady job growth This particular month.
Puerto Rico in addition to the Virgin Islands are not included from the nonfarm payrolls report.
The economy created 261,000 jobs in October, a large chunk of which reflected a recovery after workers in Texas in addition to Florida were temporarily displaced by the hurricanes. Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 18,000 in September.
The claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid rose 36,000 to 1.0 million from the week ended Nov. 11. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims increased 1,000 to 1.89 million.