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First time claims for unemployment benefits showed another unexpected increase in the week ended August 14th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with the data likely to add to recent concerns about the outlook for the labor market.
The report showed that initial jobless claims rose to 500,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 488,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to slip to 475,000 from the 484,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected increase, jobless claims rose to their highest level since coming in at 509,000 in the week ended November 14th, 2009.
The less volatile four-week moving average also rose to 482,500 from the previous week's revised average of 474,500, reaching its highest level since early December of last year.
On the other hand, continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, fell to 4.478 million in the week ended August 7th from the preceding week's revised level of 4.491 million.
While continuing claims fell to their lowest level since the week ended June 26th, the report also showed that extended benefits increased by a net 309 thousand in the week ended July 31st.
Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital, said, "This report indicates that the pace of firings and layoffs has increased and is a negative signal for the employment report in two weeks' time."
Two weeks from Friday, the Labor Department is due to release its closely watched report on the employment situation in the month of August.
The monthly report for July showed that employment fell by much more than expected in the month, with the drop reflecting a notable decrease in temporary workers for the census.
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