WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims fell 7,000 to 444,000 for the week ending May 1, the third consecutive weekly decline, the Labor Department reported today.
Continuing claims dropped to 4.594 million for the week ending April 24, also the third straight weekly drop.
Economists expected 440,000 initial claims and 4.6 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week ending April 24 were revised to 451,000 from 448,000 initially reported. Continuing claims for the week ending April 17 were revised to 4.653 million from 4.645 million.
Flooding in Tennessee closed state employment offices last week, and its initial claims data were estimated, a Labor Department official said. Nine states reported a decrease of more than 1,000 initial claims for the week ending April 24. Four states reported an increase of more than 1,000 initial claims including California, which reported an increase of 6,418 initial claims.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure, declined to 458,500, the first drop in four weeks. The four-week average for continuing claims increased to 4.649 million, breaking a streak of 32 weeks with a lower average.
On Friday, the Labor Department will release the employment situation for April. Economists are expecting nonfarm payrolls to increase by 200,000 and for the unemployment rate to stay at 9.7%.
