U.S. Jobless Claims Inch Up Less Than Expected To 199,000

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits crept slightly higher in the week ended August 1st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims inched up to 199,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 198,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 202,000 from the 197,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the uptick, jobless claims continued to rebound after hitting their lowest level since September 1969 in the week ended July 18th.

"Even though mid-summer seasonal noise is fading, initial jobless claims remained below 200,000 in the week ended August 1, confirming that layoffs remain low and labor market conditions have improved," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 198,750, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 203,250.

The Labor Department also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, climbed by 24,000 to 1.801 million in the week ended July 25th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still slipped to 1,791,250, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,796,250.

"Continued claims rose in the week ended July 25, but the increase reflects bi-weekly volatility, and the increase isn't the start of a trend," said Vanden Houten. "Continued claims are likely to trend lower in the weeks ahead given the recent downshift in initial claims."

On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of July.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 88,000 jobs in July after climbing by 57,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.2 percent.