US jobless claims jump

More Americans filed new claims for US unemployment insurance benefits last week, pushing the level to the highest in more than a year, government data released Thursday showed.

Despite the jump in the often-volatile weekly number, the US labor market continues to tighten, economists said.

Initial jobless claims, a sign of the level of layoffs, rose by 20,000 to 294,000 in the week ending May 7, the highest level since late February 2015, the Labor Department said.

Analysts had expected a decline; the department said there were no special factors affecting last week's data.

"Claims continue to unwind their April plunge, which was very likely due to seasonal adjustment problems caused by the early Easter," said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a client note.

"This reading is higher than we expected but it probably marks the end of the rebound, and over the next few weeks claims should revert to their underlying trend, which we think remains in the low 270s."

The four-week moving average rose by 10,250 to 268,250, compared to 273,750 a year ago.

Though new claims have climbed for three straight weeks they have remained below 300,000 for 62 weeks. That is the longest streak since 1973.

A weaker-than-expected April labor market report last Friday showed the unemployment rate held steady at a relatively low 5.0 percent but job growth slowing sharply to only 160,000 added positions.

Analysts said there were enough signs of strength in the April data, including a slight pickup in wage growth, to chalk off the slowdown as part of a temporary lull in the economy.