(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower in the week ended September 21st.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 218,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level of 222,000.
The dip surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to rise to 225,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 216,000 in the week ended May 18th.
"Overall, the claims data are consistent with a labor market that has cooled but is still healthy as it continues to be characterized by a low pace of layoffs," said Grace Zwemmer, Associate U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
She added, "Last week's FOMC meeting showed that the Fed officials see the labor market roughly the same way but will lower rates more aggressively than previously thought to prevent any further softening in labor market conditions."
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 224,750, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 228,250.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 13,000 to 1.834 million in the week ended September 14th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still fell to 1,835,750, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,842,250.
Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of September.
