Jobless Claims Surge, Surprising Analysts
Analysts had predicted that jobless claims for last week would fall back to 400,000 or so after rising to 431,000 last week; instead, new claims for unemployment insurance surged to 474,000, the Labor Department reported today.
The new level is the highest claims have been in eight months.
A Department of Labor official told the Wall Street Journal that one-time administrative factors were to blame, rather than underlying economic problems. For example, a new emergency benefit program in Oregon may have triggered an influx of applications.
Tomorrow’s employment report is expected to show that the jobless rate held steady while just 185,000 jobs were created last month.
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