WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – In the US, initial jobless claims rose more than expected last week. They increased by 16,000 to 219,000, as the Labor Department announced on Thursday in Washington. Economists on average had only expected an increase to 210,000. The value for the previous week was revised upwards by 1,000 to 203,000.
The weekly initial claims are taken into account on the financial markets because they provide information about overall labor market developments. In general, labor market data plays an important role in the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions. Most recently, the central bank left the key interest rate unchanged in the range between 3.50 percent and 3.75 percent in mid-March./jsl/he
