New data from the Labor Department showed a sharper-than-anticipated rise in first-time unemployment claims for the week ending December 6th, signaling a notable uptick in layoffs.
Initial jobless claims climbed to 236,000, up 44,000 from the prior week’s revised figure of 192,000. Economists had been looking for a much smaller increase, forecasting claims at 220,000 based on the earlier estimate of 191,000.
The report also noted that the four-week moving average, a measure that helps smooth out weekly volatility, inched higher to 216,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s unchanged average of 214,750.