Initial US Jobless Claims Fall to 209,000

Initial US jobless claims fell to 209,000 in the week ended May 16, according to data released recently by the US Department of Labor, Yahoo Finance reported.

Weekly US unemployment claims declined to 209,000, slightly outperforming economists’ expectations.

The figure was lower than the previous week’s revised total of 212,000 claims and slightly below economists’ expectations of 210,000, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates.

The four-week moving average of initial claims declined to 202,500, down from 204,000 in the prior week.

Meanwhile, continuing claims, which measure the number of unemployed individuals still receiving benefits, rose to approximately 1.782 million in the week ended May 9, up from a revised 1.776 million a week earlier.

Economists had expected continuing claims to come in at around 1.79 million.