WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims fell to 429,000 for the week ending July 10, the lowest level in almost two years, as fewer manufacturing workers were furloughed for seasonal reasons compared to previous years, the Labor Department reported.
Continuing claims increased by 247,000 to 4.682 million for the week ending July 3, the highest level since May 22. The four-week moving average for continuing claims increased for the first time in five weeks.
The increase in continuing claims is not correlated to the expiration of extended unemployment benefit programs created amid the recession, a Labor Department official said. Workers that have exhausted their extended unemployment benefits must be eligible for an initial jobless claim if they are to receive unemployment benefits again, the official said.
Economists expected 450,000 initial claims and 4.410 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims dropped to the lowest level since August 2008. In previous years, initial claims filings have increased in the first weeks of July as auto and textile manufacturing businesses close plants and furlough workers for the summer. Typically, these workers have been rehired later in the year. This year, a "wide swath" of states reported fewer seasonal manufacturing layoffs, the Labor Department official said.
Initial claims for the week ending July 3 were revised to 458,000 from 454,000 reported last week. Continuing claims were revised to 4.434 million from 4.413 million for the week ending June 26.
The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 455,250. The four-week average for continuing claims increased to 4.581 million.
No states were estimated for this week's report. In the week ending July 3, 10 states reported an increase in initial claims of more than 1,000. Four states reported a decrease of more than 1,000 initial claims.
