U.S. Jobless Claims Pull Back More Than Expected To 207,000

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected in the week ended April 11th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 207,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 218,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 215,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The bigger than expected decrease came a week after jobless claims jumped to their highest level since hitting 230,000 in the week ended February 7th.

"The latest jobless claims data offered no indication that the US war with Iran has yet had a notable impact on the labor market," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "Initial claims have see-sawed over the last two weeks due to seasonal factors but remain at levels consistent with a low pace of layoffs."

Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 209,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 209,250.

The Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed by 31,000 to 1.818 million in the week ended April 4th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still slipped by 8,250 to 1,813,250, hitting its lowest level since the week ended June 1st, 2024.

"Continued claims rose in the week ended April 4, following their typical up-and-down pattern," said Vanden Houten. "However, they continue to trend lower overall, reflecting the general drift lower in initial claims since last fall."