FX.co ★ U.S. Jobless Claims Unchanged From Slightly Upwardly Revised Level

The US Labor Department disclosed that initial claims for unemployment benefits did not change in the week closing on April 27, according to a report issued on Thursday. The number of first-time jobless claims stood at 208,000, mirroring the revised figure from the previous week.

This stagnation contradicts economists' projections that suggested an increase to 212,000 from the initially reported 207,000 of the preceding week. Ryan Sweet, the Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics, stated that these claims remained under their predicted breakeven level of 265,000, a figure synonymous with zero monthly job growth. He further noted that the low number of newly laid-off workers filing for benefits was due to rapid re-employment which curbed an increase in the uptake rate for initial claims.

The report additionally highlighted that the less volatile four-week moving average dipped by 3,500 to 210,000 from the revised average of 213,500 from the previous week. Regarding continuing claims, which indicates the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment aid, the report indicated no change from the previous week at 1.774 million for the week ending April 20.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims, however, slightly fell to 1,788,750, marking a decrease of 3,750 from the revised average of 1,792,500 from the previous week.

The Labor Department is set to publish its widely monitored monthly employment report for April on Friday. Economists predict an employment surge of 243,000 jobs in April following an increase of 303,000 jobs in March, expecting the unemployment rate to remain steady at 3.8%.