In the week ending May 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 209,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 211,000 to 212,000. The 4-week moving average was 202,500, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 203,750 to 204,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending May 9, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment ... (full story)

Fewer Americans filed for jobless aid last week as layoffs remain low despite a number of uncertainties that continue to cloud the economy. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 16 fell by 3,000 to 209,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 213,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which softens some of the weekly ... (full story)