US Claims Jump on Season Factors

More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, reflecting an unwinding of adjustments for seasonal swings at the start of a quarter.

Jobless claims increased by 46,000 to 388,000 in the week ended Oct. 13 from a revised 342,000 the prior period that was the lowest since February 2008, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise in claims to 365,000.

The typical pattern of large increases in unadjusted claims at the start of the quarter seems to have shifted by a week in one state, causing the adjusted data to become volatile, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press. Through the ups and downs, the level of firing has been little changed, indicating that a lack of hiring is the main reason payrolls have failed to strengthen.

“At least a major part of the jump would be a correction from the prior week,” Tom Simons, an economist at Jefferies Group Inc. in New York, who projected a jump to 380,000, said before the report. Outside of that, “we’re seeing very gradual improvement in the labor market. The economy is just plodding along at the moment.”

Stock-index futures extended earlier losses after the report. The contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index maturing in December dropped 0.2 percent to 1,454 at 8:33 a.m. in New York.

Bloomberg

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