New unemployment claims in the US went up last week. The jump was bigger than what economists predicted. Initial jobless claims reached 236,000 for the week ending December 6. This was a sharp rise from the revised 192,000 in the previous week. Experts were expecting around 220,000 not 236,000.

Just a week earlier claims had dropped to 191,000. That was the lowest level since 2022. Some analysts think the Thanksgiving holiday may have caused odd swings in the numbers. Others say the overall message is still the same. The job market is steady and not showing major signs of stress.

To smooth out the weekly ups and downs the four week moving average is used. That number is now 216,750 which is only slightly higher than the previous 214,750.

Continuing claims which track people who are still receiving unemployment benefits after the first week also dipped a bit. They came in at 1.838 million compared to 1.937 million earlier. This drop suggests companies are still hiring enough to keep long term layoffs from piling up.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday. The goal was to give the labor market some extra support. Inflation is calm enough for now though still above the Fed’s ideal target. Even with the rate cut Fed Chair Jerome Powell did not give any strong hint about more cuts in the near future.

The next Fed decision will come in late January. By then officials will review job and inflation data that got delayed because of the long federal government shutdown.