Initial jobless claims rose to 418,000 for the week ending July 16 on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims for the week ending July 9 fell to 3.698 million
Economists expected 410,000 initial jobless claims and 3.700 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the July 9 week were revised to 408,000. The continuing claims figure for the previous week was revised to 3.748 million.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure, was 421,250, down from a revised 424,000. The four-week average for continuing claims in the July 9 week was 3.721 million, down from a revised 3.725 million.
There were 1,750 new claims reported by Minnesota because of the government shutdown that began June 30. Forty states had an increase in reported claims, and 13 had a decrease.
This time of year frequently presents some difficulty for seasonal adjustments because of the unpredictable timing of factory shutdowns, especially in the auto industry. For this week, a Labor official said the seasonal adjustment pushed the reported number up only slightly.
