Initial Claims For Unemployed Benefits Lower Than Expected For July

A report out of Washington, D.C states that last week’s number of applications to receive unemployment insurance benefits from the state fell by 11,000. The total number of claims now stands at 457,000 according to the U.S. Labor Department’s report which came out on Thursday.

Economists predicted that number to be a bit higher. Earlier projections guessed that the number would be a bit higher: 460,000.

The four-week average for claims ending July 24^th was 452,500. That is the lowest figure for unemployment claims since May.

In the week ending July 24^th, claims were at 411,107. Not only was that a drop off of around 91,000 claims from the week prior, but in the same week in 2009 there were over 511,000 initial claims.