The US labor market just blinked. Initial jobless claims rose to 209,000 for the week ended August 8, up 9,000 from the prior week’s revised figure of 200,000, according to data released by the Department of Labor on August 13.
The increase topped economists’ expectations of roughly 202,000 claims.
A bounce from historic depths
Just three weeks earlier, in the week ending July 18, initial claims dropped to 187,000. That was the fewest filings since September 1969.
The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly noise, held steady at 199,000.
