Initial filings for unemployment insurance fell to their lowest level since late June last week, a sign that the labor market is resilient amid a slowing economy.
Claims totaled 232,000 for the week ended Aug. 27, a decline of 5,000 from the previous period and the lowest since June 25, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 245,000.
Continuing claims increased to 1.44 million, up 26,000 from the previous level in data that runs a week behind the headline number.
The numbers come a day ahead of the closely watched nonfarm payrolls report for August, though it is outside the survey week the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to compile that count. Wall Street is expecting that report to show that job gains in August, a notoriously volatile month statistically, will total 318,000.
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