WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by more than expected in the week ended November 7th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 200,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level of 191,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 195,000 from the 189,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The bigger-than-expected rebound comes a week after jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting a multi-decade low of 189,000 in the week ended July 18th.
'The spike in jobless claims last week breaks a long spell of stability but still leaves them trending lower than year-ago levels and consistent with a continued low pace of layoffs,' said Michael Pearce, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. 'As we approach the holiday season, seasonal noise in initial claims will increase.'
Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average came in at 195,250, unchanged from the previous week's revised average.
The Labor Department also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 20,000 to 1.697 million in the week ended October 31st.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also edged down to 1,707,750, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,709,250.
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