Filings for US unemployment benefits rose last week after hovering near historic lows.
Initial claims increased by 9,000 to 209,000 in the week ended Aug. 8, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 202,000.
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Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, fell to 1.78 million in the previous week.
The increase in filings could reflect typical summertime volatility in a period when seasonal employment patterns and the timing of holidays often affect the data. Economists will look for more than one week's worth of data before reassessing the recent stability of the labor market.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg
The four-week moving average of new applications, a metric that helps smooth out volatility, was unchanged at 199,000 last week.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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