(Bloomberg) — More Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits for the first time in five weeks, displaying the typical year-end holiday swings that make the data difficult to interpret.
Jobless claims rose by 17,000 to 298,000 in the week ended Dec. 27, from a revised 281,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 290,000. No states estimated data and there was nothing unusual in the report, a spokesman said as the figures were released.
The number of applications can fluctuate during this time of year as the holidays make it tough to adjust the data for seasonal variations. Employers are dismissing fewer workers and adding staff as household purchases pick up, driven by a drop in gasoline costs that will keep boosting the economic expansion.
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"We tend to have some distortions because of the holidays," said Thomas Simons, an economist at Jefferies in New York, whose claims estimate for last week was the closest among economists surveyed. "Labor market conditions are continuing to grind a little bit tighter. It's moving us closer to the point when we get acceleration in wage growth."
Stock-index futures held earlier gains after the report. The contract on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index maturing in March rose 0.1 percent to 2,079.6 at 8:45 a.m. in New York.
Last week reflected claims during the Christmas holiday, which may contribute to volatility.
Survey results
Economists' estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from claims of 275,000 to 315,000. The Labor Department revised the previous week's figure from an initially reported 280,000.
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, increased to 290,750 last week from 290,500.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 53,000 to 2.35 million in the week ended Dec. 20. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.8 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
Initial jobless claims reflect weekly firings and typically decline before job growth accelerates.
Monthly payroll increases have averaged almost 241,000 so far in 2014, up from the prior year's 194,000. The addition of 2.7 million workers to payrolls has put the economy on track for the biggest annual gain in hiring since 1999, and the jobless rate is at a six-year low.
Confidence firms
Better employment prospects are buoying Americans' moods. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence rose to 92.6 in December from a revised 91 in November that was stronger than initially estimated, the New York-based private research group said yesterday. A measure of current conditions advanced to the highest in almost seven years.
The cheapest fuel costs since 2009 also are lifting household spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, and have helped retailers to draw more holiday shoppers. Sales in November and December will gain 4.1 percent, the most since 2011, the National Retail Federation predicts.
Steelcase Inc., a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based maker of office furniture, is among companies encouraged by the latest figures for economic growth and the labor market.
"The jobs creation data, in particular, has had a good correlation with our business," Chief Executive Officer James Keane said on an earnings conference call with analysts on Dec. 23. "That was a good sign."
With assistance from Chris Middleton in Washington.
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