WASHINGTON -- Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. rose more than forecast last week, interrupting a steady decline to pre-recession lows.
Claims climbed by 21,000 to 311,000 in the period ended Saturday, the highest in six weeks, the Labor Department said Thursday. The median forecast of 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 295,000. There was nothing unusual in the data and no states were estimated, a spokesman said as the figures were released.
The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose 2,000 to 295,750. That continues to be close to averages that predate the beginning of the recession in late 2007.
"Stepping back from the weekly volatility," said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, "the trend is still very encouraging and points to continued job growth."
Applications are a proxy for layoffs. When fewer employers shed workers, it suggests potentially rising incomes, increased hiring activity and confidence that the economy is improving.
"Claims are low enough that they'll still" point to gains in employment, said Jacob Oubina, a senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC in New York. "Net payroll gains should continue to be decent."
Employers are searching for more workers.
In June, they advertised the most monthly job openings in more than 13 years, the government reported Tuesday. Employers posted 4.67 million jobs that month, up 2.1 percent from May's total of 4.58 million, according to the Labor Department. The number of advertised openings was the highest since February 2001, suggesting that hiring should continue to be solid in the coming months.
Still, the openings report showed that the hiring rate has not risen over the past year as quickly as the number of positions being advertised.
Job openings have increased 17.6 percent during the past 12 months, while hiring has risen 9.3 percent during the same period.
Yet the monthly net job gains have been solid in the past six months.
Employers added 209,000 jobs in July, the sixth-straight month of job gains above 200,000. The economy has now produced an average of 244,000 jobs a month since February.
The recent spurt of hiring has encouraged more people to start looking for work, causing the unemployment rate to inch up to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent. The government only counts people searching for jobs as unemployed.
Hiring has yet to increase wages by much. Wage growth has slightly outpaced inflation since the recession ended more than five years ago.
But the greater the number of people with jobs, the greater the total number of paychecks, which could drive consumer spending and growth.
The pickup in hiring also is keeping the Federal Reserve on track to end monthly bond-buying by year's end. The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee announced July 30 that it would trim monthly asset purchases by another $10 billion, to $25 billion.
The central bankers repeated that they'll probably reduce purchases in "further measured steps" while keeping interest rates low for a "considerable time."
Fed Chairman Janet Yellen has highlighted uneven progress in the labor market in making the case for further accommodation. A "strengthening" jobs picture still shows long-term joblessness at "exceptionally high levels," she told lawmakers July 15.
Two-thirds of labor market indicators that Yellen has said she monitors to judge the health of the labor market haven't yet returned to pre-recession strength. A still-elevated level of underemployment, decades-low workforce participation and a still-low number of workers secure enough to quit their jobs are among the gauges that remain weaker than 2004-07 averages.
Information for this article was contributed by Josh Boak of The Associated Press and by Michelle Jamrisko of Bloomberg News.
Business on 08/15/2014