EmailThe initial claims level increased from 391,000 for the week ending November 12 to 393,000 for the week ending November 19.
The Briefing.com consensus expected the initial claims level to remain at 391,000.
For the past several weeks, the initial claims level has remained below 410,000, a level that would normally suggest that nonfarm payroll growth should exceed the 100,000 necessary to support normal labor force growth. Even though businesses have slowed the number of layoffs, however, they have been reluctant to hire new workers.
Instead of expecting 100,000 new jobs, we now expect the improvement in the labor sector to be more modest.
The continuing claims level increased from 3.623 mln for the week ending November 5 to 3.691 mln for the week ending November 12. The consensus expected the continuing claims level to fall to 3.620 mln.
