First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a modest decrease in the week ended April 2nd, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The report showed initial jobless claims dipped to 166,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 171,000.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 200,000 from the 202,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
“The low reading was the result of a revision to seasonal adjustment factors, which produced a level shift down in claims in recent weeks averaging 30k,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n
She added, “We expect initial claims to remain well below 200k as employers, who continue to struggle to attract and retain workers, will keep layoffs to a minimum.”<\/p>\n
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 170,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 178,000.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the report showed continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 17,000 to 1.523 million in the week ended March 26th.<\/p>\n
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still fell to 1,541,250, a decrease of 35,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,576,500.<\/p>\n
The Labor Department noted that beginning with this week’s data, the methodology used to seasonally adjust the national initial claims and continued claims reflects a change in the estimation of the models.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, a more closely watched report from the Labor Department showed U.S. employment increased by less than expected in the month of March.<\/p>\n
The report showed non-farm payroll employment jumped by 431,000 jobs in March after surging by an upwardly revised 750,000 jobs in February.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected employment to spike by 490,000 jobs compared to the addition of 678,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
While the job growth in March fell short of estimates, revisions to data for the two previous months showed employment increased by 95,000 more jobs than previously reported.<\/p>\n