U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Edge Slightly Lower
(RTTNews) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a slight dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 24th.
The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 194,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 195,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to rise to 199,000 from the 194,00 originally reported for the previous month.
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a multi-decade low of 189,000 in the week ended July 18th.
"While the labor market remains a challenge for those unemployed amid a weak hire rate, the low level of layoffs means those employed are secure in their positions," said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
He added, "Weak labor supply growth means the former won't push the unemployment rate higher, while the latter remains a key downside force."
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 196,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 198,000.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, also fell by 21,000 to 1.701 million in the week ended October 17th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still crept up to 1,710,000, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,709,500.
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