Initial Jobless Claims remained elevated in the latest week, as 262,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. This matched the number of filers reported in the previous week after that data was revised slightly higher. The number of people still receiving benefits after their initial claim is filed also remained elevated with 1.775 million Continuing Claims reported.

What’s the bottom line? There is a clear upward trend in unemployment claims, with Initial Claims remaining above 200,000 each week since February and the latest reading the highest seen since November 2021. The 4-week average of Initial Claims, which smooths out some of the weekly fluctuation, also rose to its highest level since last August at 247,000.

Continuing Claims are also nearly 500,000 higher than the low point of 1.289 million filers seen last September, reflecting the challenges many people are having as they search for new employment.

With the Fed focused on employment data, this was an important real-time report showing that the labor market is weakening. And while Retail Sales rose unexpectedly last month, it will be important to see if rising layoffs will limit consumer spending this summer.