First-time claims for unemployment benefits rose to 282,000 for the week ending May 23, breaking a streak of the lowest claims in 15 years.
The Department of Labor reported Thursday that jobless claims rose 7,000, bringing the four-week average of seasonally-adjusted initial unemployment insurance claims up by 5,000 to 271,500.
Despite the slight rise, the moving average of jobless claims is still at levels not seen before this month since the dot-com bubble in 2000.
Fewer jobless claims signal fewer layoffs and are viewed as a positive sign for job creation.
The U.S. economy added 223,000 payroll jobs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bringing the three-month average for job creation to 191,000. That rate, while significantly weaker than the nearly 260,000 monthly rate for 2014, is still strong enough to keep the unemployment rate headed down.
The jobless claims report is published more frequently, on a weekly basis, and suggests that May’s jobs report could be an improvement over the previous month’s.
For the week ending May 9, there were 2.1 million people receiving employment benefits of all durations, up to 26 weeks. That was down from 2.5 million a year earlier.
