U.S. unemployment claims decrease

In the week ending July 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 457,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised figure. The four-week moving average was 452,500, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending July 17, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.5 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 17 was 4.565 million, an increase of 81,000 from the preceding week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was approximately 4.548 million, a decrease of 18,000 from the preceding week’s revised average.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.037 million.