Jobless Claims Dip 10,000 To 450,000 in Aug. 9 Week

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell back 10,000 to 450,000 in the Aug. 9 week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, citing “nothing unusual.”

While the emergency unemployment compensation program recently voted by Congress continues to impact initial claims, a Labor Department analyst said it is not possible to determine whether the impact has reached a plateau or whether the Aug. 2 week was an inflection point.

Despite the decline, which must be tempered by an upward revision of 5,000 the previous week, initial claims for the week ended Aug. 9 were above the median forecast expectation of 432,000 in a Market News International survey.

For the week ended Aug. 9, the seasonal adjustment factor had expected an increase of 0.5% in unadjusted claims, but they actually declined 1.7% or 6,577, the Labor analyst said.

The four-week moving average rose 19,500 to 440,500 in the Aug. 9 week, the highest level since 445,500 in the week ended April 20, 2002.

Continuing claims for the Aug. 2 week soared 114,000 to 3.417 million. Continuing claims have stayed above the three million mark since the April 19 week. This was the highest level since the Nov. 8, 2003 week, when continuing claims hit 3.441 million.

The four-week average for continuing claims rose 75,250 to 3.274 million in the Aug. 2 week.

— Market News International

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