New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits fell more than expected last week to a five-year low, official data released Thursday showed.
Initial jobless claims totaled 326,000 in the week ending July 27, a decline of 19,000 from the prior week’s revised figure of 345,000, the Labor Department reported.
The reading was the lowest since January 19, 2008, when claims stood at 321,000 amid the financial crisis.
Analysts on average had expected a slight rise to 345,000 claims from the unrevised prior week’s figure of 343,000.
The four-week moving average, which helps to smooth week-over-week volatility, dropped by 4,500 to 341,250 claims.
First-time jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, have been trending lower as the labor market slowly recovers from the Great Recession that ended four years ago.
The positive claims report came a day before the Labor Department releases its closely watched monthly jobs data.
The average analyst estimate for Friday’s July report is that job growth slowed to 175,000 from 195,000 in June.
The unemployment rate was expected to tick down to 7.5 percent from 7.6 percent.
US jobless claims fall
