Following a recent downward trend, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by much more than anticipated in the week ended May 11th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 360,000, an increase of 32,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 328,000.
Economists had expected claims to climb to 330,000 from the 323,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the upward revision to the previous week's data, jobless claims have now climbed for two straight weeks after hitting a five-year low of 327,000 in the week ended April 27th.
However, Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital, said, "Everyone knows how volatile these weekly data are so, unless we see claims remaining at this level next week, let's chalk it up to a wonky reading."
The less volatile four-week moving average showed a more modest increase, edging up to 339,250 from the previous week's revised average of 338,000. The previous week's revised figure still represents a five-year low.
The Labor Department also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, edged down to 3.009 million in the week ended May 4th from the preceding week's revised level of 3.013 million.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims fell to 3,015,250, a decrease of 21,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,036,250.
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