Weekly unemployment benefits provided some of a surprise Thursday morning. Figures released by the U.S. Labor Department showed first-time claims for jobless benefits gaining 258,000 last week.
Claims were expected to total 240,000, compared with the 241,000 claims reported for the week earlier.
Claims for the week before were revised to show 2,000 more applications received than previously reported. Washington revised the claims data going back to 2012 and published new seasonal factors for 2017. The revisions showed no change in the state of labour market.
Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market for 80 straight weeks. That is the longest stretch since 1970 when the labour market was smaller. It's a labour market now considered near full employment.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose only 1,000 to 240,000 last week.
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