WASHINGTON — In what was described as “uneventful week,” initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 38,000 to 550,000 in the Aug. 1 week, according to data released by the U.S. Labor Department yesterday.
A Market News International survey had expected the claims level to fall to 575,000 in the week from the originally reported 584,000 in the July 25 week. The expectations ranged from 550,000 to 600,000.
Initial claims for the July 25 week were revised up 4,000 to 588,000. Initial claims from the July 18 week remained unrevised at 559,000.
The initial claims seasonally adjusted four-week average fell 4,750 to 555,250 in the Aug. 1 week. This marks the sixth straight week that the four-week average has fallen. The last time the four-week moving average was this low was the Jan. 24 week, when it was 547,000.
“It’s a fairly uneventful week in the world of initial claims,” a Labor Department analyst said, with only Washington, D.C., Kentucky and Louisiana estimated.
He noted that the small decline in the seasonally adjusted initial claims level was because seasonal factors had expected a small dip of 3.1% or 15,800. The actual drop was 9.4% or 48,296 to 463,062.
In the July 25 week, continuing claims rose 69,000 to 6.310 million, while for the July 18 week continuing claims were revised from 6.197 million to 6.241 million. Continuing claims were 3.344 million in the comparable week a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted insured-unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7% in the July 25 week. It was 2.5% in the comparable week a year ago.
— Market News International
