WASHINGTON - There were 422,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending May 28, down 6,000 from the prior week’s 428,000 claims, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims fell to 3.711 million in the May 21 week, from the revised 3.712 million in the previous week.
Economists were looking for 416,000 new claims and 3.670 million continuing claims based on the median estimate of the Thomson Reuters poll.
The less volatile four-week moving average of new claims for the May 28 week was 425,500, down from the revised 439,500 a week earlier. The four-week moving average for continuing claims for the May 21 week were 3.738 million, revised down from the preceding week's average of 3.748 million.
Only the state of Missouri said storms and flooding were a factor in its new claims. However, a department official said total Missouri claims were not large and bad weather was just one of a number of factors affecting its report.
Four states reported more than 1,000 new claims, including California with 7,053 due to layoffs in the service industry. Two states reported drops of more than 1,000 in their new claims.
After dropping steadily in the first quarter, new jobless claims have reversed the trend and come in above 400,000 for eight weeks in a row. Economists see the run as a worrying sign of weakening in the labor market.
