The number of Americans filing for for unemployment benefits last week jumped to their highest level in a year, a possible sign of softness in the labor market.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims jumped by by 33,000 to 258,000 for the week of Oct. 3. That’s the most since Aug. 5, 2023 and well above the 229,000 analysts were expecting.
Applications for jobless benefits are widely considered representative of U.S. layoffs in a given week, however they can be volatile and prone to revision.
The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of that weekly volatility, rose by 6,750 to 231,000.
The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose by 42,000 to about 1.86 million for the week of Sept. 28.
