The Labor Department said Thursday that first claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 229,000 in the week ending May 20.
Review data from the previous week showed that the number of claims submitted was 17,000 lower than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters expected 245,000 claims to be submitted last week.
The labor market has held up despite the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by 500 basis points since March 2022, when the US central bank launched its fastest tightening campaign since the 1980s to control inflation .
There were 1.6 jobs for every unemployed person in March, well above the range of 1 and 1.2 jobs that corresponds to a labor market without significant inflation.
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