U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Edge Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower in the week ended August 24th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 231,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 233,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 232,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also dipped to 231,500, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average of 236,250.

"After being inflated by weather and seasonal factors in July, initial jobless claims in August are stabilizing at a slightly lower level, another indication that layoffs remain low," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "The Fed has committed to a rate cut in September to guard against labor market weakness, but there is nothing in the claims data to warrant more than a 25bps cut."

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance rose by 13,000 to 1.868 million in the week ended August 17th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still edged down to 1,863,250, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,863,500.

"Continued jobless claims, which track initial claims, are also stabilizing," said Vanden Houten. "Our nowcast based on continued claims points to a small dip in the unemployment rate in August to 4.2%."

Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of August.