US jobless claims rise as Target pares down holiday hiring

The second straight weekly increase in jobless claims reported by the United States Department of Labor on Thursday puzzled economists as one of the country’s largest retailers announced scaled-back holiday hiring plans.

The number of United States workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, boosted by surges in California and Virginia, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a steadily recovering labour market.

The second straight weekly increase in jobless claims reported by the US Department of Labor on Thursday puzzled economists. Some pointed a finger at the wildfires in California, while others blamed Hurricane Ida, which devastated US offshore energy production in late August. There was little conviction that ongoing COVID-19 infections, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, were a factor.

“Some, but not all, of this recent pickup looks related to Hurricane Ida, as filings in Louisiana have been above their pre-storm trend in recent weeks,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. “But even including any storm-related claims, the recent move up in filings has not looked particularly severe so far, and we don’t think the labour market recovery has been derailed at this point.”