WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits were unchanged in the week ended April 27th.
The report said initial jobless claims came in at 230,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level of 230,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 215,000.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average rose to 212,500, an increase of 6,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 206,000.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed by 17,000 to 1.671 million in the week ended April 20th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still fell to 1,673,750, a decrease of 13,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,687,500.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on the employment situation in the month of April.
Employment is expected to increase by 185,000 jobs in April following the addition of 196,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.8 percent.
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