After reporting a bigger than expected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that jobless claims pulled back in line with estimates in the week ended September 6th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 275,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 281,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 275,000 from the 282,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Despite the weekly decrease, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average inched up to 275,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week’s revised average of 275,250.
The report also showed a slight increase in continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance.
Continuing claims crept up to 2.260 million in the week ended August 29th from the previous week’s revised level of 2.259 million.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims fell to 2,260,250, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 2,264,750.
The Labor Department released a separate report last Friday showing much weaker than expected job growth in August but also a drop in the unemployment rate and an increase in wages.
The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 173,000 jobs in August, well below the increase of 220,000 jobs anticipated by economists.
However, the unemployment rate still edged down to 5.1 percent in August from 5.3 percent in July, hitting its lowest level since April of 2008.
The Labor Department also said average hourly employee earnings climbed 0.3 percent to $25.09 in August, reflecting a 2.2 percent year-over-year increase.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com