The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment decreased more than predicted last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits declined by
11,000 to 211,000 for the week ended April
6. This represented the lowest weekly
total since early March.
Economists had expected
215,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 222,000 from the original estimate of 221,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims slipped to 214,250 from an upwardly revised 214,500 (from 214,250)
in the previous week.
As for continuing claims, they increased to 1,817,000
from a downwardly revised 1,789,000 (from 1,791,000) in the previous week. This
was the highest reading since the week ended January 20 (~1,830,000).