(RTTNews) - With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 31st.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 227,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 232,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 230,000 from the 231,000 originally reported for the previous week.
"Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits continue to signal that layoffs are not the primary catalyst for the softening in the labor market," said Ryan Sweet, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
He added, "However, the Federal Reserve can't be complacent, and the central bank needs to begin cutting interest rates."
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 230,000, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 231,750.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell by 22,000 to 1.838 million in the week ended August 24th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dipped to 1,853,000, a decrease of 8,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,861,250.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of August.
Economists currently expected employment to climb by 160,000 jobs in August after rising by 114,000 jobs in July.
The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 4.2 percent in August after rising to 4.3 percent in July, reaching its highest level since October 2021.
