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Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to
a seasonally adjusted 267,000 for the week ended June 13, the
Labor Department said on Thursday.
Claims for the prior week were unrevised. It was the 15th
straight week that claims held below 300,000, a threshold
usually associated with a firming labor market.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday gave an upbeat assessment of
the labor market. The U.S. central bank's policy-setting
committee said in its statement that on balance, a range of job
market indicators "suggests that underutilization of labor
resources diminished somewhat."
That was an upgrade from April when measures of labor market
slack were viewed as "little changed".
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to
275,000 last week. A Labor Department analyst said there was
nothing unusual in the state level data.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, fell 2,000 to 276,750 last week.
The claims data covered the period during which the government
surveyed employers for the payrolls portion of June's employment
report. Jobless claims fell 8,000 between the May and June
survey periods, suggesting another month of solid job gains.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 280,000 in May after a rise of
221,000 in April.
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid declined 50,000
to 2.22 million in the week ended June 6.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
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