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Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 16,000
to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 for the week ended May 14, the
Labor Department said on Thursday. That was the biggest drop
since February and snapped three consecutive weeks of increases.
Claims for the prior week were unrevised.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast initial claims falling
to 275,000 in the latest week. Claims have now been below
300,000, a threshold associated with a strong job market, for 63
straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1973.
The claims report added to data on retail sales, housing starts
and industrial production in painting an upbeat picture of the
economy at the start of the second quarter. Gross domestic
product growth braked sharply to a 0.5 percent annualized rate
in the January-March period.
Claims had risen since mid-April, with economists blaming a
variety of factors, including the different timing of school
spring breaks, which often makes it difficult to adjust the data
around this time of the year.
An ongoing strike by Verizon workers as well as possible
disruptions to manufacturing activity in the wake of recent
earthquakes in Japan have also been cited.
A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors
influencing last week's claims data and no states had been
estimated. There were large declines in unadjusted claims for
New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan, which had seen hefty gains
in recent weeks.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better
measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week
volatility, rose 7,500 to 275,750 last week. The claims data
covered the survey week for May's nonfarm payrolls.
The four-week average of claims increased 15,000 between the
April and May survey periods, suggesting little change in
employment gains after the economy added 160,000 jobs last
month.
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still
receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 13,000 to
2.15 million in the week ended May 7. The four-week average of
the so-called continuing claims rose 4,250 to 2.14 million.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
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