Numbers are highest since early April's 480,000 initial claims.
In this photo taken June 28, Talia Dashow, right, with Mary Kay cosmetics explains sales opportunities during a National Career Fair in San Francisco. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose for the second time in three weeks last week, a sign that layoffs are rising.Initial unemployment insurance file numbers jumped last week to their highest peak in three months.
CNN reports “479,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 31, up 19,000 from a upwardly revised 460,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said. The weekly figure is the highest since the week ended April 10, when 480,000 initial claims were filed.”
The jump is claims were much higher than the expected 455,000 claims that economists estimated.
"Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims dipping to 455,000 from the previously reported 457,000 the prior week, which was revised modestly up to 460,000 in Thursday's report," ABC News reported.
The government reports that 4,537,000 filed continuing unemployment insurance claims for the week ending July 24, which is down around 34,000 from the previous week.
The continuing claims do not include the number of Americans receiving the extended benefits under federal programs after initial benefits are up.
Those who collect emergency and extended payments after the average 26 weeks of unemployment were exhausted have increased by about 258,000 to currently stand at around 3.92 million as of July 17.
“President Barack Obama on July 22 signed into law a measure restoring unemployment benefits that were cut off. The bill provides retroactive aid to those whose checks were cut off when benefits expired June 2, while extending through November a program offering up to 99 weeks of assistance,” Bloomberg reports.