The number of first-time jobless claims increased unexpectedly last week, climbing for the second week in a row, highlighting that the road to recovery in the labor market is still bumpy.
The Labor Department announced on April 8 that in the week ended April 3, the number of first-time jobless claims increased by 16,000 over the previous week to 744,000, more than the 680,000 estimated by Bloomberg economists, with California and New York increasing by the most number of states. The previous week’s claims were revised upward to 728,000 from 719,000.
The increase in the number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week reflects the long road to job recovery, but with the accelerated progress of the vaccination against the new virus and the loosening of vaccination measures, companies are expected to accelerate hiring in the coming months.
In addition, the number of consecutive claims for unemployment benefits for the week ended March 27 was 3.374 million, the lowest in a year, but higher than the market estimate of 3.638 million.
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