Continuing claims, which are filed by people who have received jobless benefits for more than one week, dipped to 1.799 million for the week ended May 6 from a revised 1.807 million the week prior. Economists were forecasting the latest initial and continuing claims to land at a seasonally adjusted 254,000 and 1.818 million, respectively, according to consensus estimates on Refinitiv.
“Apart from Massachusetts, initial claims have stabilized in recent weeks after drifting higher in [the first quarter], a reminder that labor market conditions are still relatively tight,” Nancy Vanden Houten, Oxford Economics lead US economist, wrote Thursday. “While we expect the [Federal Reserve] to leave rates steady at its June meeting, a resumption of rate hikes can’t be ruled out if labor market conditions don’t ease more significantly.