The Labor Department released a report on Thursday revealing that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits surged significantly more than anticipated for the week ending July 13th.
According to the Labor Department, initial jobless claims increased to 243,000—up by 20,000 from the previous week's adjusted figure of 223,000.
Economists had forecasted that initial jobless claims would rise to 230,000, compared to the originally reported figure of 222,000 for the prior week.
"Rising claims suggest the labor market is cooling at a steady rate," stated Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial. "We anticipate that the upcoming July payroll report will be somewhat softer than the preceding month."
He further commented, "The recent Beige Book indicated that businesses are not filling open positions as aggressively as they have in previous months. We can expect more cautious statements from Fed policymakers regarding the labor market."
The report also noted that the less volatile four-week moving average marginally increased to 234,750, a rise of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average of 233,750.
Continuing claims, which measure the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, also rose by 20,000 to 1.867 million for the week ending July 6th, reaching their highest level since November 2021.
Additionally, the four-week moving average of continuing claims climbed by 11,500 to 1,850,500, marking its peak since December 2021.
