US jobless claims jump past forecasts during latest week

The US jobs market continues to be quite tight, the latest figures for unemployment claims filings showed.

According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, initial jobless claims jumped by 21,000 over the week ending on 14 May to reach 218,000.

Economists at Barclays Research had penciled-in a reading of 305,000.

The four-week moving average, which aims to smooth out the variations in the volatile initial claims data, rose by 8,250 to 199,500.

Worth noting, initial claims numbers for the week to 7 May had been revised lower by 6,000 to 197,000.

Secondary unemployment claims, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week ending on 7 May, decreased by 25,000 to 1.317m.