After reporting a drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that initial jobless claims moved back to the upside in the week ended May 25th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 354,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 344,000.
The rebound surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 340,000 originally reported for the previous week.
While the rebound partly offset the drop seen in the previous week, economists noted that the data may have been distorted due to the Memorial Day holiday and the tornadoes in Oklahoma.
Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, said, "The Labor Department warned that the holiday shortened week prevented a full tabulation of claims, meaning there could be a considerable revision next week."
The Labor Department said its less volatile four-week moving average rose to 347,250, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 340,500.
With the increase, the four-week moving average reached its highest level since hitting 358,250 in the week ended April 20th.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also rose to 2.986 million in the week ended May 18th from the preceding week's revised level of 2.923 million. The preceding week's figure represented a five-year low.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims fell to 2,986,500, a decrease of 11,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,998,000.
Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its closely watched monthly report on the employment situation for May.
Employment increased by 165,000 jobs in April compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 145,000 jobs.
With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate edged down to 7.5 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March. The unemployment rate had been expected to come in unchanged.
The unexpected decrease pulled the unemployment rate down to its lowest level since hitting 7.3 percent in December of 2008.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.