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Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 5,000
to a seasonally adjusted 274,000 for the week ended Aug. 8, the
Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week
were revised to show 1,000 fewer applications received than
previously reported.
Though claims have risen for three straight weeks, they have
remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is associated with a
firming jobs markets, for 23 consecutive weeks.
Economists had forecast claims to be unchanged at 270,000 last
week. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special
factors influencing the data and no states had been estimated.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, fell 1,750 to 266,250 last week, the lowest since
April 2000.
Non farm payrolls increased by a solid 215,000 jobs in July and
the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent -
near the 5.0 percent to 5.2 percent range that most Federal
Reserve officials think is consistent with a steady but low
level of inflation.
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid rose 15,000 to
2.27 million in the week ended August 1.
((Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao))
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