Washington, DC, February 9, 2006--First-time applications for unemployment benefits edged higher by 4,000 to 277,000 in the week ending Feb. 4, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The four-week average of seasonally adjusted new claims fell to 276,500, the lowest since April 2000. The average number of new claims is nearly 50,000 lower than it was for most of 2005.
The four-week average is considered a better gauge of new claims because it smoothes out one-time disturbances, such as holidays, intense weather and strikes.
Economists were expecting an increase in new claims to about 283,000 in the most recent week, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, the number of people receiving unemployment checks rose by 60,000 to 2.557 million in the week ending Jan. 28. The four-week average of continuing claims fell by about 34,000 to 2.54 million, the lowest since March 2001.
The insured unemployment rate - the percentage of those workers covered by unemployment insurance who are actually collecting - rose to 2% from 1.9%, which was the lowest rate since February 2001.
New filings in this range are consistent with steady job growth of 200,000 or more per month, economists say.
Economists have cautioned that the claims data are very volatile this time of year. The government's statistical seasonal adjustment factors cannot completely smooth out the massive swings in seasonal employment in December and January.
The most volatile time of the season is ending, and the longer new claims stay well below 300,000, the more believable it is that a new trend in the labor market has been established.
New claims are down about 13% since this time last year. Continuing claims are down about 7% year-over-year.
