U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Climb To Highest Level In A Month

(RTTNews) - A day before the release of its closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected in the week ended October 31st.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 276,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 260,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 262,000.

Jobless claims added to the modest increases seen in the two previous weeks to reach their highest level since hitting a matching number in the week ended September 26th.

The Labor Department said the four-week moving average subsequently edged up to 262,750, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 259,250.

With the uptick, the less volatile four-week moving average climbed off the nearly forty-two year low set in the previous week.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also rose by 17,000 to 2.163 million in the week ended October 24th.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims fell to a nearly fifteen-year low of 2,161,500 from the previous week's revised average of 2,173,000.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for October on Friday.

Economists expect the report to show an increase of about 190,000 jobs in October following the addition of 142,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.0 percent from 5.1 percent.