(Bloomberg) -- Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest in a month during a week that included the Thanksgiving holiday.
Initial claims increased by 9,000 to 224,000 in the week ended Nov. 30. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 215,000 applications.
The four-week moving average, a metric that helps smooth out volatility, edged up to 218,250.
Weekly data tend to be choppy around holidays. Until the recent uptick, claims had been relatively stable recently. On an unadjusted level, initial claims dropped by nearly 35,000, driven by California and Texas.
“I would attribute the seasonally adjusted increase in the number of new filers to statistical noise rather than fundamental labor market weakness,” Stephen Stanley, chief US economist at Santander US Capital Markets, said in a note. He estimates the underlying level of initial claims is near 220,000, similar to where it was in the spring.
Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, dropped to 1.87 million in the previous week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
US-based employers have announced almost 58,000 job cuts in November, up 27% from a year earlier, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That included ongoing staff reduction in the technology sector and the biggest round of planned dismissals in the auto industry since April.
So far this year, planned cuts are up only 5.2% in the Challenger data. Separate measures of layoffs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show they’ve remained subdued overall, even though a number of high-profile companies have announced plans to reduce their workforce recently, from Cargill Inc. to General Motors Co. and Tyson Foods Inc.
What Bloomberg Economics Says...
“Jobless claims are set to surge toward the end of the year after Boeing Co. presented a range of measures to cost cuts — including a 10% reduction in the workforce — and Stellantis announced layoffs.”
-Eliza Winger, economist
To read the note, see here.
The government’s monthly job report due Friday will provide more insight on labor demand. Economists estimate that nonfarm payrolls rose by 215,000 in November, rebounding after two hurricanes and a now-ended strike lowered October numbers. The jobless rate is seen unchanged at 4.1%.
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