U.S. Weekly Jobless Unexpectedly Drop To Nearly Three-Month Low
May 18 2017 - 5:23AM
RTTF2
In an upbeat sign for the labor market, the Labor Department
released a report on Thursday showing another unexpected drop in
first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended
May 13th.
The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 232,000, a
decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of
236,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to
240,000.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their
lowest level since hitting 227,000 in the week ended February
25th.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving
average also fell to 240,750, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous
week's unrevised average of 243,500.
Additionally, the report said continuing claims dropped by
22,000 to 1.898 million in the week ended May 6th.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving
ongoing unemployment assistance, slid to their lowest level since
November of 1988.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims fell to a more
than four-decade low of 1.946 million from the previous week's
revised average 1.966 million.
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