WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 9th.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 224,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 227,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 228,000 from the 226,000 originally reported for the previous week.
'There is nothing in the latest week's jobless claims data to alter the Federal Reserve's view of the labor market or our view that the Fed will hold off on cutting rates until December,' said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 221,750, an increase of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 221,000.
The report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 15,000 to 1.953 billion in the week ended August 2nd.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still edged up to 1,950,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,950,250.
'While continued claims are elevated, they are moving off their recent highs and we expect that to continue,' said Vanden Houten.
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