Weekly Jobless Claims Back Above 300,000

The U.S. Department of Labor has released its weekly jobless claims. The number of people who applied for jobless benefits increased back above the 300,000 level to 311,000 claims. This was an increase of 21,000 from the previous reading of 290,000.

This was well above economist estimates of 295,000, according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg surveys. The range of estimates was very tight at 295,000 to 300,000.

Also, the four-week average, which was at a recovery low last week, ticked up by 2,000 to 295,750 this week.

Continuing jobless claims also rose by 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.54 million. Continuing claims — what at 24/7 Wall St. we refer to as the army of the unemployed — are reported with a one-week lag.

The Labor Department said, as it often does, that there were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims.

No doubt, the unexpected significant jump higher to well above the 300,000 weekly claims mark is concerning. Still, it is far too soon to tell if one week of higher jobless claims after last week’s very strong report is going to be enough for many economists to change their predictions for August’s payrolls and the unemployment rate.