WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a slight dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended September 5th.
The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 206,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 207,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 208,000 from the 206,000 originally reported for the previous week.
'The jobless claims data continue to be consistent a low pace of layoffs and a labor market that has struck a balance between low rate of hiring and little growth in the labor force,' said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 206,000, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 207,500.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, also edged down by 1,000 to 1.774 million in the week ended August 29th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims dipped to 1,779,000, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,780,750.
Last Friday, the Labor Department released a more closely watched report showing employment in the U.S. increased by far more than economists had expected in the month of August.
The report said non-farm payroll employment surged by 162,000 jobs in August are rising by an upwardly revised 21,000 jobs in July.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 55,000 jobs compared to the loss of 23,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate came in at 4.1 percent in August, unchanged from July. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to tick up to 4.2 percent.
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