US initial jobless claims fall to 208,000, below 217,000 estimate
Weekly unemployment filings for the week ended July 11 came in below forecasts, while continuing claims fell to 1.805 million and the prior initial-claims reading was revised up to 216,000 from 215,000.
Summary
US initial jobless claims fell to 208,000 in the week ended July 11, below the 217,000 consensus estimate and down from the prior week's revised 216,000, indicating fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits than expected. Continuing claims declined to 1.805 million from a revised 1.821 million, also below the 1.82 million forecast. The weekly claims report is closely watched as a high-frequency indicator of labor-market conditions and can influence expectations for monetary policy and risk assets.
Terms & Concepts
- initial jobless claims: Weekly count of first-time applications for unemployment benefits.
- continuing claims: The number of people still receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week.