U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Fall For Third Straight Week

(RTTNews) - While the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell for the third consecutive week, claims still came in slightly above economist estimates.

The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 340,000 in the week ended October 26th, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 350,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 335,000.

After several weeks of distortions, the Labor Department suggested that the latest numbers were clean, as California has addressed its technical issues and the federal government has reopened.

Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, claims at the 340k level is about the average seen from the beginning of the year to the end of September."

"This is a large come down from the 350-400k seen in 2011 and 2012 but we know the change only reflects a reduction in the pace of firing's as job growth in 2013 has not improved at all compared to 2012," he added.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged up to 356,250, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 348,250.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed to 2.881 million in the week ended October 19th from the preceding week's revised level of 2.850 million.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims dropped to 2,878,750, a decrease of 10,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,888,750.

Last week, the Labor Department released a separate report showing that U.S. employment increased by much less than expected in the month of September

The report said non-farm payroll employment increased by 148,000 jobs in September compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 180,000 jobs.

The September jobs report was originally scheduled for release on October 4th but was delayed as a result of the government shutdown.

Next Friday, the Labor Department is due to release its monthly jobs report for October. The report was originally scheduled to be released tomorrow.