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Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000
to a seasonally adjusted 274,000 for the week ended May 16, the
Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week
were unrevised.
Despite last week's increase, claims remained below 300,000, a
threshold associated with a strengthening labor market, for an
11th straight week. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast
claims rising to 271,000 last week.
A Labor Department analyst said there was nothing unusual in the
state-level data and no states had been estimated.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, fell 5,500 last week to 266,250. That was the lowest
level since April 2000.
The claims data covered the period during which the government
surveyed employers for the payrolls portion of May's employment
report. The four-week average of claims fell 18,750 between the
April and May survey period, suggesting another month of job
growth above 200,000.
Outside the energy sector, which has lost thousands of jobs so
far this year as oilfield companies like Schlumberger SLB.N,
Baker Hughes BHI.N and Halliburton HAL.N respond to sharply
lower crude oil prices, layoffs have been very minimal.
The labor market is tightening despite a sluggish economy that
has been characterized by tepid consumer spending, as well as
weak business investment and manufacturing activity.
Nonfarm payrolls rose 223,000 in April and the unemployment rate
slipped to a near seven-year low of 5.4 percent.
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 12,000 to
2.21 million in the week ended May 9. That was the lowest level
since November 2000.
The unemployment rate among people receiving benefits fell 0.1
percentage point to 1.6 percent, the lowest since July 2000.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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