Initial Jobless Claims Unchanged

Initial jobless claims were little changed at 374,000 in the week ending Aug. 25, matching the prior week’s revised figure, the Labor Department said Thursday. 

Economists had called for a drop to 370,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure climbed to a six week high of 370,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 368,750.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Aug.18 declined by 5,000, to 3.32 million.

The Labor Department revised last week’s figure from an initially reported 372,000.