By Jonathan House
WASHINGTON--The number of new applications for jobless benefits
rose last week but stayed near 2014 lows, a sign ahead of Friday's
jobs report that the labor market continues its steady
improvement.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 4,000 to a
seasonally adjusted 302,000 in the week ended Aug. 30, the Labor
Department said Thursday. That was slightly above the 300,000
forecast by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly
volatility, rose 3,000 to 302,750.
Initial jobless claims, viewed as a proxy for layoffs, fell to a
2014 low of 279,000 in mid-July and have been hovering around
300,000 since then. The last time that regularly happened was in
early 2006, at the height of the last economic expansion.
"This is an extraordinarily low pace of layoffs," said Stephen
Stanley, economist at Pierpont Securities.
The lower level of claims also reflects a declining rate at
which laid-off workers file for benefits in a generally improving
economy. As the newly laid off become more optimistic about their
chances of quickly finding a new job, many don't bother to file
benefit claims.
"The initial jobless-claims data continue to signal a pickup in
the rate of net job creation," economists from RDQ Economics LLC
said in a note to investors.
The pace of hiring has stepped up a gear this year, with
employers adding 200,000 or more jobs for the past six months,
according to data from the Labor Department. Economists polled by
The Wall Street Journal expect new payrolls data out Friday to show
U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs in August. They added 209,000 in
July.
A separate survey of private-sector employers released Thursday
showed that the pace of hiring slowed slightly in August. Private
payrolls increased by 204,000 jobs last month, according to the
employment report compiled by payroll processor Automatic Data
Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody's Analytics . The July
increase was revised down to 212,000 from 218,000.
At 6.2%, the nation's unemployment rate remains at a
historically high level for this point in the recovery. But
anecdotal evidence is mounting that labor shortages are developing
for certain occupations.
The Federal Reserve's latest "beige book" survey of regional
economic conditions found that "contacts in nearly all districts
reported difficulties finding certain types of skilled labor." The
report, released Wednesday, said companies in the Boston area
reported shortages of information technology workers, while New
York employers were having trouble finding truck drivers.
Thursday's jobless claims report showed the number of people
continuing to draw unemployment benefits fell by 64,000 to
2,464,000 for the week ended Aug. 23. Those figures are reported
with a one-week lag.
Continuing claims are now at their lowest level since
mid-2007.
Write to Jonathan House at jonathan.house@wsj.com and Josh
Mitchell at joshua.mitchell@wsj.com