Jobless Claims Up 5,000 To 333,000 In August 3 Week

WASHINGTON (MNI) - Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits rose less than expected in the August 3 week, increasing by 5,000 to 333,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The 4-week moving average fell to its lowest level in almost six years.

Expectations for this week's report was for a claims level of 336,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previously reported 326,000 level in July 27 week. Claims in that week were revised up to a 328,000 level.

A Labor Department analyst said no states were estimated in the current week, and that there was "nothing unusual" in the underlying data provided by the states.

He also said the data appears to be moving past the volatility common to July, with seasonal factors expecting "fairly small changes" in the unadjusted data going forward.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week moving average fell 6,250 to 335,500 in the August 3 week, its fourth straight decline and the lowest level since the week of November 17, 2007 (330,000).

The analyst said that seasonal adjustment factors had expected a 0.5% increase in unadjusted claims, around 1,300, in the Aug. 3 week. Instead, unadjusted claims saw an uptick of 1.9%, or 5,285, to 286,738. That level is still below the 320,219 level reported in the comparable week a year ago.

The state data released for the July 27 week indicated unadjusted initial claims increased in just eight states and declined in 45 states, with only one state unchanged. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands are included in this data.

The level of continuing claims came in at 3.018 million after seasonal adjustment in the July 27 week, an increase of 67,000 from the previous week.

The level of unadjusted continuing claims rebounded by 27,804 to 2,954,988 in the July 27 week, but still below the 3,242,883 level in the comparable week a year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment was unchanged at 2.3% in the July 27 week from the previous week, remaining below the seasonally adjusted 2.6% rate in the comparable week a year earlier.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

The Labor Department said the level of unadjusted Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits claims plunged in the July 20 week, down 48,242 to 1,516,275.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 4,520,948 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the July 20 week, a decline of 174,418 from the previous week, and below the 5,750,327 persons in the comparable week a year ago. These data are not seasonally adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state additional benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.

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