U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Remained At 384,000 For Week Ending June 21

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The number of individuals filing initial jobless claims for insurance remained unchanged during the last week, but the labor market continued to stay weak, a report said.

The slight change in the first-time jobless claims reflects some improvement in the U.S. economy, which has already suffered by the subprime contagion, amid weak consumer confidence and rising gas prices.

U.S. weekly initial jobless claims for insurance remained at 384,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending June 21, according to the Labor Department on Thursday.

While, the four-week average, which is a less volatile measure, of initial jobless claims rose by 2,250 to 378,250 in the third week of June and compared to 376,000 in the week prior.

The four-week average was between 300,000 and 325,000 for much of 2007, which is a sign of healthy job growth, while it was below 350,000 for most of the first quarter this year.

Any figure above 350,000 indicates that the labor market is weak; the weekly jobless claims has remained above that level since the month of April this year.

The number of continuing jobless claims increased by 82,000 to 3.14 million for the week ending June 14, which is the highest level since February 2004.

The four-week average of continuing unemployment claims remained at 3.10 million, which is the highest level seen in over four years.

The market analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had projected claims to drop to 375,000, from a previously reported 381,000 a week earlier, according to the median of 37 projections with estimating ranging from 370,000 to 388,000.

Last month, the unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent, up from 5 percent in April, led by the declining jobs in manufacturing, construction, retail trade and business services.

The Labor Department report Thursday showed the unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance, which tends to track the U.S. jobless rate, increased to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent.

The report also said there were 15 states and territories registering an increase in initial jobless claims, while 38 reported a decrease in the jobless claims for the June 14 week. These data are reported with a one-week delay.

Iowa led the biggest rise by 4,000 in the new jobless claims during the June 14 week due to flooding.

The U.S. economy has lost jobs every month since the begining of this year and it shed as much as 20,000 in the month of April and up to 49,000 jobs in May.

Last year, the economy created as muchas 91,000 new jobs each month on average.