New weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week, ending a three-week streak of improvements.
The Labor Department released its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday and here are the main metrics compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
- Initial jobless claims, week ended Feb. 12: 248,000 versus 218,000 expected and a revised 225,000 during prior week
- Continuing claims, week ended Feb. 5: 1.6 million versus 1.60 million expected, and a revised 1.62 million during prior week
Even with the rise in filings last week, jobless claims hovered near pre-pandemic levels, given that 2019’s weekly average of new claims was approximately 220,000. In February last year, jobless claims were still coming in at a weekly rate of about 800,000 as virus-related pressures weighed on the labor market.
Initial jobless claims edged higher in January to near 300,000 around the time that Omicron cases surged to a record level in the U.S. Though the virus-induced impact appeared as a brief bump higher in the weekly jobless claims data, the latest monthly jobs report showed surprising resilience. Non-farm payrolls soaring by a much greater-than-expected 467,000 in January while the labor force participation rate rose more than expected.
Click here to see the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.