Jobless Claims Rose Last Week, But Trend May Still Be Good

There were 379,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance filed last week, up 10,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration reported Thursday.

This means the data on claims have now run counter to other economic indicators for two weeks in a row. While most other signs have recently been positive, the number of claims has jumped from 305,000 in the week ended Nov. 30 to 369,000 the next week and now 379,000.

Reuters says the news is “casting a shadow on the labor market.” But the wire service adds that “claims data continue to be plagued by seasonal volatility. Other labor market indicators have pointed to a strengthening in job growth.”

Bloomberg News says the spike may just reflect “fluctuation in the filings that typically occurs around the year-end holidays.”

There’s other economic news due later this morning, including the National Association of Realtors’ report on sales of existing homes in November. We’ll update with highlights.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Read the full story on NPR.org »