Jobless claims increased by 21,000 to 313,000 in the week ended Nov. 22, the highest since early September, from 292,000 in the prior period, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. It would take several weeks of sustained elevated readings to confirm the labor market has taken a step back.
It’s particularly difficult to adjust the data during the holiday season, suggesting there should be no rush to judgment yet, Thomas Simons, an economist at Jefferies LLC in New York, said in a research note.
“Variant winter weather, the floating timing of the Thanksgiving holiday, and preparations for the holiday-shopping season that differ from prior years tend to make historical comparisons difficult,” Simons wrote. “Volatility will probably continue to be elevated until the end of the year, but we expect that claims will drift lower again.”
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