U.S. jobless claims rise last week due to federal shutdown, to have weighed on private sector job growth

Jobless claims in the U.S. rose last week as federal shutdown lead to increased claims from government contractors. In the week ended 26 January, jobless claims rose 53k to 253k from a revised 200k a week earlier. The increase in weekly claims pushed the four-week moving average higher to 221k from 215k previously. Meanwhile, continuing claims were up 69l in the week ended 19 January and the four-week moving average rose to 1.738 million from 1.730 million a week prior.

The insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.2 percent. The Labor Department reported that seasonal adjustment difficulties and increased filing by government contractors were mainly responsible for the increase in claims. This is widely in line with the outlooks that federal government shutdown might have been a drag private sector job growth in January’s employment report.

“While furloughed federal employees will be counted as employed in the establishment payroll data, we believe the length of the shutdown will weigh modestly on private sector job growth. That said, we believe the results will be short-lived and any weakness in January employment due to the federal government work stoppage will likely be reversed in the February employment report”, said Barclays.

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