WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 23rd.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dipped to 229,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 234,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 230,000 from the 235,000 originally reported for the previous week.
'Initial jobless claims slipped in the week ended August 23, reversing some of the prior week's increase,' said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. 'Claims edged higher on a trend basis, but not to a level that should ring any alarms about a significant increase in layoffs.
Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 228,500, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 226,000.
The Labor Department also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 7,000 to 1.954 million in the week ended August 16th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still rose to 1,956,250, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,951,750.
'Continued claims remain elevated and consistent with a slow pace of job creation,' said Vanden Houten.
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