After staying below 230,000 for three straight weeks, Initial Jobless Claims rose by 21,000, as 248,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. Continuing Claims fell by 8,000, with 1.684 million people still receiving benefits after filing their initial claim. This latter metric has been on a downward trend from the high of 1.861 million reported in early April, reflecting a mix of people finding new jobs and benefits expiring.

What’s the bottom line? Initial Jobless Claims have remained relatively low of late due to the difficulty hiring that many businesses are reporting. After all, businesses that can’t find qualified workers certainly aren’t going to lay off the ones they have. For example, the National Federation of Independent Business noted that 92% of small businesses looking to hire last month could not find qualified workers for their positions. We’ll have to see if this latest Initial Jobless Claims report is a one-off jump or the start of a new trend higher reflecting some of the weakness we are seeing in the labor market.