U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Drop To 259,000
September 21 2017 - 4:04AM
RTTF2
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly
decreased in the week ended September 16th, according to a report
released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 259,000, a
decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level of
282,000.
The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected
jobless claims to climb to 300,000 from the 284,000 originally
reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims pulled back further
off the two-year high of 298,000 set in the week ended September
2nd.
The jobless claims data has recently been impacted by Hurricanes
Harvey and Irma, which caused significant damage in Texas and
Florida.
The Labor Department said the four-week moving average climbed
to 268,750, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised
average of 262,750.
The increase lifted the less volatile four-week moving average
to its highest level since reaching 269,500 in June of 2016.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving
ongoing unemployment assistance, jumped by 44,000 to 1.980 million
in the week ended September 9th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose to
1,953,000, an increase of 6,500 from the previous week's revised
average of 1,946,500.
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