The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to the highest level since October 2021, but the labor market remains one of the healthiest parts of the US economy.
The Labor Department reported on Thursday that US jobless claims were 261,000 for the week ended June 3, up 28,000 from 233,000 the previous week. Weekly jobless claims are thought to represent U.S. layoffs.
The four-week moving average of claims data, which smooths out some weekly variation, rose by 7,500 to 237,250. Overall, 1.76 million people collected unemployment benefits in the week ending May 27, about 37,000 fewer than the previous week.
The U.S. economy has added jobs at an impressive rate since the outbreak of the pandemic by more than 20 million jobs in the spring of 2020. Americans have enjoyed extraordinary job security, despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign to cool the economy and the labor market in its efforts to curb persistent, decades-long inflation - high decade.
The US dollar index recorded a limited decrease of 0.39% at a trading level of 103.648 after the data was released.
