WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A day ahead of the release of its more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower in the week ended September 26th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 197,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 198,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 200,000 from the 197,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The slight decrease pulled jobless claims down to their lowest level since hitting a multi-decade low of 189,000 in the week ended July 18th.
'Jobless claims continue to defy expectations and remain exceedingly low, dovetailing with the JOLTS reports' layoff rate which shows that while businesses aren't hiring at a rapid pace, they are reticent to let their current crop of workers go,' said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
He added, 'The vast majority of jobless claims at the individual state level have declined on an annual basis, and prior history suggests the risks to our unemployment rate forecast remain squarely to the downside.'
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also dipped to 200,000, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 202,500.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, also fell by 11,000 to 1.701 million in the week ended September 19th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dropped to 1,723,750, a decrease of 18,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,742,250.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for September.
Economists currently employment to increase by 90,000 jobs in September after jumping by 162,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.1 percent.
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