New claims for unemployment insurance benefits rose 3,000 to 231,000 to end June, the Department of Labor reported Thursday, but the report contained good news overall.
The small increase in jobless claims defied forecasters’ expectations for claims to drop by 4,000 to 223,000. Overall, though, new and continuing claims for unemployment insurance remain near historic lows.
Fewer new jobless claims suggest that layoffs are rare, and that job creation is strong.
The total number of people receiving unemployment benefits of all durations is running at the lowest levels in 44 years, according to Thursday’s release.
Over the past month, an average of 1.72 million people have been receiving unemployment insurance, which is available for up to 26 weeks in most states. That is the lowest such mark since December of 1973.
The shrinking of the unemployment rolls is especially noteworthy given that the workforce is nearly twice as large today.
The jobless claims numbers suggest that the jobs recovery is going to roll on for the near future.
Any number of new claims below 300,000, economists calculate, mean that the unemployment rate is going to stay steady or decline. Claims haven’t hit that mark since early 2015, and have instead fallen to the lowest levels in decades.
Meanwhile, at 3.8 percent in May, unemployment is already the lowest it has been since the 1960s.
