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Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 9,000
to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 for the week ended July 21, the
Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims dropped to 208,000
during the week ended July 14, which was the lowest reading
since December 1969.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to
215,000 in the latest week. Claims data tends to be volatile
around this time of the year when motor vehicle manufacturers
shut assembly lines for annual retooling.
The Labor Department said only claims for Maine were estimated
last week.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a
better measure of labor market trends as it irons out
week-to-week volatility, fell 2,750 to 218,000 last week, the
lowest reading since mid-May.
The labor market is viewed as being near or at full employment.
Employment gains averaged 215,000 jobs per month in the first
half of this year.
The claims report also showed the number of people receiving
benefits after an initial week of aid dropped 8,000 to 1.75
million in the week ended July 14. The four-week moving average
of the so-called continuing claims rose 9,500 to 1.75 million.
The continuing claims data covered the week of the household
survey from which July's unemployment rate will be derived. The
four-week average of continuing claims rose by 25,750 between
the June and July survey periods suggesting little change in the
unemployment rate.
The jobless rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.0
percent in June as more Americans entered the labor force, in a
sign of confidence in the labor market.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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