US jobless claims decrease
Washington — The US Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended August 9.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 224,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 227,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 228,000 from the 226,000 originally reported for the previous week.
“There is nothing in the latest week’s jobless claims data to alter the Federal Reserve’s view of the labor market or our view that the Fed will hold off on cutting rates until December,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead US economist at Oxford Economics.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 221,750, an increase of 750 from the previous week’s revised average of 221,000.
The report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 15,000 to 1.953 billion in the week ended August 2.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still edged up to 1,950,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,950,250.
“While continued claims are elevated, they are moving off their recent highs and we expect that to continue,” said Vanden Houten.
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Unemployment Weekly Insurance Claims
In the week ending August 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 224,000, a decrease of 3,000
from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 226,000 to 227,000. The
4-week moving average was 221,750, an increase of 750 from the previous week’s revised average. The pre vious week’s
average was revised up by 250 from 220,750 to 221,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent for the week ending August 2, unchanged
from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the
week ending August 2 was 1,953,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s
level was revised down by 6,000 from 1,974,000 to 1,968,000. The 4 -week moving average was 1,950,750, an increase
of 500 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,500 from
1,951,750 to 1,950,250.
