WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims decreased to 457,000 in the week ending July 24, the third decline in four weeks, the Labor Department reported today.
Continuing claims increased to 4.565 million for the week ending July 17, up 81,000 from the previous week.
Economists expected 460,000 initial claims and 4.540 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week ending July 17 were revised higher to 468,000 from 464,000 reported last week. Continuing claims were revised to 4.484 million from 4.487 million for the week ending July 10.
The four-week moving average for initial claims fell to 452,500 and the average for continuing claims fell to 4.548 million.
No states were estimated in today's report. For the week ending July 17, 10 states reported a decrease of more than 1,000 initial claims and seven states reported an increase of more than 1,000.
