WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims rose 9,000 to 408,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ended August 13, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims for the week ending August 6 rose to 3.702 million
Economists expected 400,000 initial jobless claims and 3.690 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the August 6 week were revised to 399,000. The continuing claims figure for the previous week was revised to 3.695 million.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure, fell to 402,500 from the previous week's revised average of 406,000. The four-week average for continuing claims was down to 3.716 million from a revised 3.721 million in the August 6 week.
Thirty-four states had an increase in first-time claims. Eighteen states had a decline.
There were no special factors in this report according to a Labor Department official, and no effect from the FAA shutdown.
J.P. Morgan economists had said earlier that "the improvement in the claims data over the past few weeks has contrasted with the tone of most other economic data, so we think some of this recent improvement will be undone" in the August 13 report.
