Weekly Jobless Claims Rise More than Expected Ahead of Election

The Labor Department said Thursday weekly jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 265,000 last week, higher than the median forecast calling for 258,000. The report comes ahead of the U.S. presidential election and said the prior week was unchanged at 258,000.

The 4-week moving average was 257,750, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 253,000.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 15 were in Alaska (3.1), Puerto Rico (2.7), the Virgin Islands (2.7), New Jersey (2.2), California (2.0), Connecticut (2.0), Pennsylvania (1.8), Nevada (1.7), West Virginia (1.7), and Illinois (1.6).

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims. While the report marks 87 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970, longterm unemployment and week labor participation have shrunk the pool of eligible applicants.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending October 22 were in North Carolina (+2,389), Illinois (+1,743), Pennsylvania (+1,641), Ohio (+701), and Washington (+700), while the largest decreases were in Kentucky (-4,073), Michigan (- 1,890), California (-1,604), New York (-1,240), and Florida (-450).