WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded in the week ended July 27th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 215,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 207,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 214,000 from the 206,000 originally reported for the previous week.
In the previous week, jobless claims hit their lowest level since falling to a nearly 50-year low of 193,000 in the week ended April 13th.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 211,500, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 213,250.
Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 22,000 to 1.699 million in the week ended July 20th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also crept up to 1,698,250, an increase of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,697,500.
Friday morning, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for July.
Employment is expected to climb by 164,000 jobs in July after jumping by 224,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.7 percent.
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