Mark Blinch/Reuters
Lukas Stewart, with a sign strapped to his back, uses a megaphone to attract the attention of potential employers as he hands out resumes on Bay Street in the financial district in Toronto, March 5, 2009.
Economist forecast that claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in the past week, rose to 245,000.
Last week, claims unexpectedly fell to 234,000, which marked the 101st consecutive week that the reading came in below 300,000.
Moreover, the four-week moving came in at 244,250, which is the lowest level since November 3, 1973 when it was 244,000.
Initial jobless claims are used as a real-time proxy for the pace of layoffs and the overall health of the labor market, since people usually file for benefits soon after they lose their jobs.
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