Financial News: U.S. Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Edge Down To Two-Month

U.S. Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Edge Down To Two-Month Low

(RTTNews) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower in the week ended September 19th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 197,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 198,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 204,000 from the 196,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected dip, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting a multi-decade low of 189,000 in the week ended July 18th.

"Jobless claims data continue to be consistent with a low pace of layoffs and a labor market that has struck a balance between a low rate of hiring and little growth in the labor force," said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 202,250, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 204,000.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, inched up by 2,000 to 1.719 million in the week ended September 12th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still fell to 1,744,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,757,000.

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