US weekly jobless claims edge higher
Washington (AFP) - New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits rose last week, but held to the low range of the past two months, according to Labor Department data Thursday.
Initial jobless claims in the week to August 30 rose by 4,000 to 302,000, slightly below the four-week moving average of 302,750.
A year ago the four-week average was about 10 percent higher.
Jobless claims are a sign of the pace of layoffs in the economy, and have hovered around the 300,000 range since early July, seen as a sign of growing tightness in the jobs market.
Analysts are waiting to see if that trend is reflected in the Labor Department's August job creation and unemployment rate data to be released on Friday.
The US unemployment rate fell to 6.2 percent in July, from 7.3 percent a year ago. The economy added 209,000 jobs, leaving the average number of jobs growth per month at 223,000 jobs this year.
Payrolls company ADP estimated Thursday that the private sector added 204,000 net new jobs last month, slightly down from July's 212,000, and weaker than analysts had been expecting.
For Friday's August job creation data, which includes public authority hiring and can be significantly different from ADP's figures, analyst forecasts average around 200,000 net new jobs.
