US weekly jobless claims move higher, seasonality cited as cause

The US labour market softened slightly at the end of the year according to one of the most widely tracked measures for that country's labour market, but a government statisticians pointed the finger to seasonal quirks in the figures as the cause.

Thursday's jump in the data may have been the result of volatility caused by the application of seasonal adjustment factors, a Labor Department spokesman said.

Initial US weekly unemployment claims increased by 20,000 to reach 287,000 over the week ending on 26 December, according to figures released by the US Department of Labor.

Economists had anticipated a smaller rise to 275,000.

The four-week moving average, which smoothes out the week-to-week volatility in the the data series worsened by 4,500 people to 277,000.

Secondary unemployment claims, those which are not filed for the first time and referencing the week ended on 19 December, edged higher by just 3,000 to 2.198m.

"These data indicate that, at least from the separations side, the labor market remained strong to the very end of the year. We look for further improvements next year; we expect monthly employment growth to average close to 200k in 2016 and the unemployment rate to fall to 4.3% by end of the year, wrote Barclays's Rob Martin in a research note sent to clients.