U.S. jobless claims up, four-week average lowest since 2000

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also climbed to 2,254,250, an increase of 14,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 2,240,000.

In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 8 rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 274,000 from the previous week’s total of 269,000.

The weekly report on initial jobless claims is set for release at the bottom of the hour.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast 270,000 new applications for jobless benefits last week. Applications for unemployment benefits in the US are hovering close to a four-decade low, a sign of muted firings and steady progress in the labor market, according to Bloomberg. A Labor Department counselor said you could never find wonderful components having an influence on the comprehensive data and no tells us appeared to be extrapolated.

Employers hired almost 5.2 million people in June, the government said Wednesday, the most in six months and the second-highest total since the Great Recession ended in 2009. Claims for your before time around were really adjusted to prove one, 000 fewer uses acquired than ever before noted.

Limited dismissals have been accompanied by steady hiring. U.S. companies added 211,000 workers on average this year through July, compared with 281,000 a month in the last half of 2014.

Such job growth has moved Federal Reserve policy makers closer to their first increase in interest rates since 2006.

However, analysts believe the likelihood of a September rate hike has declined after the surprise decision from the People’s Bank of China to devalue the yuan for three consecutive days this week.