The number of Americans who filed for first-time unemployment benefits rose by 16,000 last week—the largest increase since late February—but still remains low by historical standards.
By the end of October, initial jobless claims increased to a seasonally adjusted 276,000 against economist estimates of 260,000 (according to one Wall Street Journal survey).
The four-week moving average of claims rose by 3,500 to 262,750 last week, but that's a level that remains near the lowest since December 1973.
Claims may be on a declining trend, but job gains have also slowed recently. The divergence suggests that job creation could be better than the Labor Department believes, or that a payroll slowdown is real.
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