Jobless claims climb to 207,000 as unemployment claims hover near pre-COVID lows

• Jobless claims rose to 207,000 last week, leaving claims hovering around pre-COVID lows.
• The count came in above the median economist forecast of 197,000 claims.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance edged higher last week, further cementing a complete recovery for benefits claims.

Jobless claims totaled 207,000 last week, the Labor Department announced Thursday morning. That fell short of the median forecast of 197,000 claims from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. It also marks the highest count since late November, when weekly claims came in at 227,000.

The prior week's sum was revised to 200,000 from 198,000, according to the report. Claims counts have hovered around 200,000 since mid-November, matching the lows seen just before the coronavirus slammed the US economy. Though the unemployment rate and labor force participation remain far from fully recovered, claims have steadily held at pre-crisis lows for several weeks now.

Continuing claims, which count people continuously receiving unemployment aid, rose to 1.75 million for the week that ended December 25. Economists expected continuing claims to drop to 1.68 million. Continuing claims have staged a similarly encouraging, albeit bumpy, recovery to pre-crisis levels.

The latest claims data follows a hugely encouraging report on the US labor market. The country added 807,000 private-sector payrolls in December, according to ADP's monthly employment report published Wednesday. That more than doubled the median forecast of 400,000 new jobs and marked a significant acceleration from the 505,000-payroll increase seen throughout November.

Still, the rosy ADP print doesn't guarantee a healthy jobs report. The government is slated to publish its December update on the US labor market on Friday and reveal just how hard the Omicron variant is hitting hiring.

Economists expect the report to show 400,000 nonfarm payrolls added throughout last month and for the unemployment rate to drop slightly to 4.1%. Such gains would show notable improvement from November's slow growth, but still leave the labor market far from fully healed.