Citi: Continued jobless claims suggest weakness in the U.S. job market

Gisela Hoxha, an economist at Citibank, wrote that the four-week moving average of continuing claims for unemployment benefits in the US has continued to rise recently, indicating that the labour market is weakening. The figure has been higher than the same period last year, reflecting a slowdown in hiring and longer periods of time for the unemployed to seek employment. The weakness could make it harder for official employment data to show that the labour market has rebounded from the hurricane. "If renewals in hurricane-affected states remain high over the next few weeks, the November employment data released in early December may not fully rebound from the hurricane's impact," Hoxha wrote.