According to the US Department of Labor, the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits in the United States for the week fell by 33 thousand compared with the revised figure of the previous week – to 779 thousand applications. Analysts predicted a decrease in the number of applications by only 17 thousand, to 830 thousand.
At the same time, the average number of initial applications over the past four weeks decreased by 1.25 thousand from the revised figure – to 848.25 thousand. The initial figure was revised downwards – to 849.5 thousand from 868 thousand.
The total number of people receiving unemployment benefits in the United States fell by 193 thousand from the revised figure of the previous week, to 4.592 million. The previous week's figure was revised to 4.785 million from 4.771 million.
