The report showed that initial jobless claims rose to 408,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 399,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to increase to 400,000 from the 395,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the increase, jobless claims climbed back above 400,000, a level considered by many economists to be a benchmark for employment. Claims have now come in at or above 400,000 for 18 of the past 19 weeks.
Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said, "Granted, this may not be a huge rise and it has been higher….much, much higher…in the past year." "However, it was more than what consensus was calling for and since it also covers the August survey period, it's not an encouraging move," she added.
Labor Department officials said that seasonal factors had predicted a 5.5 percent drop in new claims for the week. But the raw figures reported showed a smaller than expected 3.3 percent decline, resulting in the increase in the seasonally adjusted figures. Furthermore, the officials said, there were no indications that the partial Federal Aviation Administration shutdown had impacted the weekly claims figures.
The four-week moving average of new unemployment claims, a figure that reduces some of the week-to-week volatility in the reports, showed a decrease of 3,500 to 402,500. The total number of people claiming unemployment benefits, a figure known as continuing claims, rose by 7,000 to 3.702 million in the week ended August 6th. That increase comes atop revised figures that showed the previous week's revised level at 3.695 million, slightly higher than the 3.688 million initially reported. The four-week moving average of continuing claims fell slightly, dropping by 4,500 to 3.716 million from the previous week's revised average of 3.7205 million.
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