WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - The number of people filing new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 12,000 last week, the Labor Department said today.
Labor said 308,000 new claims were filed for the week ending July 7, down from the revised 320,000 from the prior week. Forecasters had expected 316,000 new claims. The last time weekly jobless claims were this low was the week ending May 12.
The four-week moving average of first time claims fell 1,500 to 317,750. Economists prefer the four-week average because it smoothes out fluctuations in the weekly data.
The number of people continuing to claim unemployment insurance in the week of June 30 fell just slightly by 4,000 to 2.55 mln versus a 2.50 mln expectation. The prior week, continuing claims hit a ten-week high, increasing by a revised 73,000.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims is 2.529 mln, the highest that figure has been since the week ending April 28.
Labor said unadjusted initial jobless claims increased by 116,000 for the week ending July 7, reflecting temporary, seasonal layoffs in the auto sector. These layoffs are expected as auto companies prepare their plants to produce newer model cars.
Labor said the 116,000 claims in the auto industry was lower than the expected 133,000 claims, which is why there was no increase in the seasonally adjusted data normally used to track claims.
pete.kasperowicz@thomson.com
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