The year 2015 ended with some disappointing news about the jobs outlook, as new applications for unemployment insurance jumped to 287,000 in the last full week of December, according to a report published by the Department of Labor reported Thursday morning. The number of jobless claims was up from 267,000 the week before.
Expectations were for 270,000 first-time claims, according to a poll of private-sector economists conducted by Bloomberg.
The four-week moving average of claims rose by 4,500 to 277,000.
Both the first-time jobless claims number and the average were the highest they’ve been since the month of July. The December statistics are comparable to the July statistics because the Labor Department adjusts them to remove predictable seasonal variations.
Even with the bounce up to end December, the average for claims is still at pre-recession levels.
Economists in government and in private-sector businesses watch jobless claims because they come out on a weekly basis and provide a high-frequency gauge of the economy’s health. Higher claims are viewed as a sign that layoffs are increasing, slowing job growth.
The background is that job gains have been relatively large in recent months as jobless claims have been grinding lower.
The U.S. has added 218,000 jobs on average in the past three months, and slightly more than that for the year.
No individual reasons for Thursday’s jump in jobless claims were apparent in the data. The Labor Department said that there were no special developments affecting the data.
The biggest increase in unemployment applications was 2,047 in Virginia. Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, and Kansas all also saw gains over 1,000.
