Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more than expected, casting doubts about the strength of the labor market, official data showed on Thursday.
The number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Dec. 15 rose by 20,000 seasonally adjusted 245,000 from the previous week’s total of 225,000, the Department of Labor said.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise to 231,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 236,000, down 1,250 from the previous week. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Continuing jobless claims declined to 1.932 million from 1.889 million in the preceding week, which was revised up from 1.886 million.