U.S. weekly initial jobless claims rise unexpectedly

U.S. regular initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly in the week ended 9th October. Claims rose to 898k. However, new claims under the PUA program dropped.

The risk of the labor market’s rebound going into reverse was on full display with the latest jobless claims report. Initial filings for regular state programs rose above expectations to 898k.

The rise in claims comes in spite of estimates for California, the most populous state, being held at the level prior to when the state paused filings in mid-September.

Meanwhile, continuing claims dropped 1.2 million in the week ended 3 October, but the fall likely reflects more workers exhausting benefits. Over the prior week, recipients of the PEUC program, which provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits, rose 818k.

The number of benefit recipients throughout all programs dropped a bit in the week of 26th September, but at 25.3 million it illustrates the wide degree of stress that remains within the labour market, said Wells Fargo in a research report.