By Bryan Mena
Filings for jobless claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 last week, an increase of 23,000, as a tight U.S. labor market has kept applications near pre-pandemic lows for the past two months.
The increase in the Jan. 8 week came as employers dealt with workers calling in sick because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The four-week moving average for last week edged higher, the Labor Department said Thursday, to 210,750.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had estimated jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, would fall slightly to 200,000 for the week ended Jan. 8.
Initial claims and the four-week moving average--which smooths out volatility in the weekly figures--have in recent weeks continued to hover near their lowest levels on record.
Continuing claims, which provide an approximation of the number of people receiving benefits, fell by nearly 200,000 to 1.6 million in the week ended Jan. 1, the most recent reading for those figures.
Write to Bryan Mena at bryan.mena@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-13-22 0905ET
