Jobless Claims in U.S. Rise While Benefit Rolls at 17-Year Low
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise 10,000 to 244,000
Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week while total benefit rolls dropped to the lowest in 17 years, indicating the job market remains tight, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.
Filings are hovering near a four-decade low as managers hold staff levels steady or boost them to keep up with an expanding economy. Analysts will look at the latest claims data for clues to the April change in payrolls, because last week coincides with the survey week for the monthly employment report due May 5. At the same time, year-to-year variation in the timing of the Easter holiday may affect the data. Jobless claims have been on a general downtrend during the expansion and broke below the 300,000 level in March 2015.