The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose by 3,000 to 269,000, marking the highest level since the end of June.
Despite the rise, claims remained well below their recent peak of 277,000 in mid-June.
Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast initial jobless claims to total a seasonally adjusted 263,000 in the week stretching from July 24 to July 30.
Claims are sometimes elevated in July, a time of the year when automakers traditionally shut plants to retool and many workers are eligible for temporary benefits. In recent years, however, such shutdowns have become less regular because of soaring auto sales.
Whatever the case, claims have been below the key 300,000 benchmark of a healthy labor market for 74 weeks and counting — a feat last duplicated in the early 1970s. The nation’s official unemployment is also a tick below 5%.
The average of new jobless claims over the past month rose by 3,750 to 260,250, the Labor Department said Thursday. The less volatile four-week average is seen as a more accurate measure of labor-market trends.
Continuing jobless claims decreased to 2.138 million in the week ended July 23 from 2.144 million in the prior week, the government said. These claims, reported with a one-week delay, reflect people already receiving unemployment checks.
Current levels of new claims are probably low enough to nudge the number of recipients down very slightly over time, said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP.
