U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Inch Slightly Higher
(RTTNews) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits crept slightly higher in the week ended August 29th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims edged up to 206,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 204,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 205,000 from the 203,000 originally reported for the previous week.
"The data leaves intact our view that the labor market is broadly in balance with both the demand and supply of workers relatively soft, while layoffs remain low," said Sara Godfrey, Associate U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
She added, "The subdued pace of jobless claims aligns with other data on job cut announcements by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which showed last month's total number of reported job cuts to be the lowest for any August since 2022."
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also ticked up to 207,250, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 205,750.
The report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, also rose by 8,000 to 1.779 million in the week ended August 22nd.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims dipped to 1,781,750, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,786,750.
The Labor Department's is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for August on Friday.
Economists currently expect employment to climb by 55,000 jobs in August after dipping by 23,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.
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