WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly higher in the week ended July 26th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 218,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 217,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 224,000.
The smaller than expected uptick came after jobless claims edged down to their lowest level in over three months in the previous week.
'Initial claims have been noisy over the last few weeks due to seasonal factors,' said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. 'Sorting through the noise, initial claims are consistent with a low pace of layoffs.'
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average slipped to 221,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 224,500.
The report also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, came in unchanged from the previous week's revised level at 1.946 million in the week ended July 18th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims edged down to 1,949,250, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,951,750.
'Continued claims are still elevated, signaling unemployed workers are finding it difficult to find new jobs, but are showing signs of leveling off,' said Vanden Houten.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of July.
Economists currently expect employment to increase by 110,000 jobs in July after climbing by 147,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 4.2 percent in July from 4.1 percent in June.
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