The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 239,899 in the week ending August 8, an increase of 15,795 (or 7.0 percent) from the previous week.
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The Labor Department said there were no “special factors” impacting that week’s figures.
The four-week average of jobless claims, which smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly report, edged down by 1,750 to a seasonally adjusted 266,250, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Despite last week’s rise in claims, the four-week average remains low from a historical perspective, noted Jesse Hurwitz of Barclays, according to Yahoo! The unchanged reading matched economist estimates.
With Thursday’s release, claims for unemployment insurance benefits held near the very low levels they have scraped throughout the summer.
Workers who lost their jobs after the freeze hit California January 12-14, 2007, line up to register for the Disaster Unemployment Assistance program funded by FEMA. Claims for your before time around were really adjusted to prove one, 000 fewer uses acquired than ever before noted.
Beginning in March, claims have remained below the 300,000 level that economists say is typically consistent with an improving job market.
Limited dismissals have been accompanied by steady hiring. Import prices dropped in July, suggesting inflation will stay below the U.S. central bank’s preferred 2% annual target.
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The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits rose by 15,000 to 2.27 million in the week ended August 1. Excluding fuels, the cost of goods made overseas decreased 2.6 percent from July 2014, the most since October 2009.
