U.S. jobless claims remain stable close to recovery-level lows

Jobless claims in the U.S. remained stable near recovery-level lows, noted Barclays in a research report. For the week ended 26 August, the initial jobless claims came in at 236,000, slightly below consensus expectations of 238,000. Claims for the week ended 19 August were revised up by 1000 to 235k, and along with today’s release, led the four-week moving average to drop by 1000 to 237,000.

This is just modestly above the recovery-level low of 235k achieved in the week ended 19 May of this year. Continuing claims dropped 12k in the week ended 19 August to 1.942 million and the four-week moving average dropped by 6000 to 1.952 million.

The insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.4 percent. Overall, initial and continuing claims have rebounded modestly in recent weeks. On balance, the separation side of the labor market continues to be exceptionally weak.

“We caution against ignoring the underlying signal: stability in claims near recovery-level lows, in our view, signals that the recent trend of solid employment gains and modest above-trend growth in activity is likely to continue.”, said Barclays.

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