Even though the US economy is showing small signs of improvement, things are not evolving in the right direction by definition. In fact, the unemployment rates continue to go up, suddenly reaching a five-month high. At the same time, the labor market continues to strengthen, and this unemployment rise is only a minor drawback, according to experts.

Rising Unemployment Numbers In The United States

The new unemployment numbers came as quite a surprise to many US financial experts. Although it was expected that a new rise would  occur, the tally was higher than most people had anticipated. As a result, the country is now dealing with their highest unemployment numbers in the past five months. This is not a positive development, but no reason for despair either.

With unemployment benefits on the rise, the US economy comes under increasing stress levels. However, there is a silver lining, as the number of total claims remains below the 300,000 threshold. This seems to indicate that the US labor market is still very healthy, despite, this small setback. Experts see this as a reason not to panic just yet, and things may turn out to be alright in the end.

That being said, the projections indicated that 253,000 unemployed individuals would apply for benefits by last week. In the end, the number turned out to be 268,000, which is a rather significant discrepancy. The buffer of 300,000 is still more than large enough, but things seem to be evolving at an accelerated pace.

Interestingly enough, it’s hard to pinpoint what the cause for this discrepancy is. Labor Department analysts have not noticed any particular factors influencing the data, which is rather unusual. However, it is important to note that this data will have no significant impact on the November employment report, which will be released this coming Friday.

The overall trend between early October and the end of November is positive. More job gains have been seen across the period, which is a strong indication that the US job market is finally rebounding. It appears that the number of nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 jobs last month, following a strong 161,000 increase in October.

As was to be expected, the bigger question is whether or not these numbers can push the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates later this month. For now, that change seems inevitable, although all pieces of the puzzle need to fit before it can become a reality. The job market numbers seem to add up, but the final decision will not be made before December 14, 2016.

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