New U.S. applications for unemployment benefits last week recorded their largest increase in eight months, but remained at levels consistent with a fairly healthy labour market.
Other data on Thursday showed a surprise rise in productivity in the third quarter after a drop in self-employment led to overall hours worked falling for the first time in six years, restraining labour-related production costs.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 276,000 for the week ended Oct.31, the U.S. Labor Department said. It was the largest weekly increase since late February.
Still, last week marked the 35th straight week that claims were below the 300,000 threshold normally associated with a strong jobs market. Claims had hovered near 42-year lows for much of October.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it strips out week-to-week volatility, rose 3,500 to 262,750 last week.
