U.S. Jobless Claims Inch Up To 230,000, Matching Economist Estimates

(RTTNews) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended September 7th.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 230,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 228,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 230,000 from the 227,000 originally reported for the previous week.

"After some noise earlier in the summer, initial jobless claims have settled into a tight range over the last several weeks," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "The Fed has committed to a rate cut at its meeting next week to guard against labor market weakness, but there is nothing in the claims data to warrant more than a 25bps cut, which continues to be our baseline forecast."

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also crept up to 230,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 230,250.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed by 5,000 to 1.850 million in the week ended August 31st.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still dipped to 1,852,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,854,750.

Last Friday, the Labor Department released a more closely watched report showing employment in the U.S. rose by less than expected in the month of August.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 142,000 jobs in August compared to economist estimates for an increase of 160,000 jobs.

The report also said the increases in employment in June in July were downwardly revised to 118,000 jobs and 89,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 86,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2 percent in August from 4.3 percent in July.

The modest decrease, which was in line with estimates, came after the unemployment rate reached its highest level since October 2021.