Contrary to the rising expectations, applications for unemployment benefits in the USA decreased by 12 thousand to 237,000. The expectation was that this figure would be 250 thousand.
The US Department of Labor has released data on weekly jobless claims.
Accordingly, applications for unemployment benefits in the USA declined last week, indicating that the labor market remains resilient despite the slowdown in employment growth.
According to the report published by the Ministry of Labor, the first applications for unemployment benefits decreased by 12 thousand in the week ended July 8 to 237,000.
The median estimate in a survey of economists by Bloomberg was for that number to be 250,000.
Continuing applications involving recipients of benefits for more than a week rose to 1.73 million in the week through July 1.
On the other hand, the 4-week average in the first applications for unemployment benefits decreased to 246 thousand 750.