WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims increased to 472,000 for the week ending June 12, the second straight weekly increase and the highest level in a month, the Labor Department reported today.
Continuing claims increased to 4.571 million for the week ending June 5.
Economists expected 450,000 initial claims and 4.455 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims typically see a rebound in the week following a federal holiday, a Labor Department official said. The Memorial Day holiday fell in the week ending June 5. California, for example, reported a drop of 10,386 initial claims in the June 5 week partly because of the shorter workweek.
Claims were revised higher from last week's report. Initial claims were revised to 460,000 from 456,000 and continuing claims were revised to 4.483 million from 4.462 million.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, a less volatile figure, fell for the first time in four weeks to 463,500 from 464,000 in the previous week. The four-week average for continuing claims fell to 4.602 million.
States reported an increase in claims in the manufacturing, construction and education sectors, the Labor official said. Oklahoma's claims data were estimated, the official said.
