Economic news
11.07.2024

U.S. weekly jobless claims total 222,000

The data from the Labour Department announced on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment fell more than predicted last week. .

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits declined by 17,000 to 222,000 for the week ended July 6. This represented the weakest weekly total since late May. Economists had forecast 236,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 239,000 from the original estimate of 238,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of jobless claims dropped to 233,500 from an upwardly unrevised 238,750 (from 238,500) in the previous week. This was the first decrease in five weeks and marked the lowest count in three weeks.

As for continuing claims, they slipped to 1,852,000, compared to a downwardly revised 1,856,000 (from 1,858,000) in the previous week. Economists had predicted continuing jobless claims of 1,860,000.

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