U.S. initial jobless claims fall to 262,000

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid continued to fall last week, reflecting an improving job market on the whole.

In the week ending Aug. 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits fell to 262,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

The data is better than the market expectation of 265,000, while the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, increased 2,500 from the previous week's unrevised average to 265,250.

This marks 76 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, a benchmark for real job growth or loss in the economy, the longest streak since 1970, said the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 6 increased 15,000 from the previous week to 2,175,000.

Some Fed officials cited "recent economic developments as indicating that labor market conditions were at or close to those consistent with maximum employment," according to the minutes of the Fed's July 26-27 meeting released Wednesday.

The U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 255,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was maintained at the low level of 4.9 percent, said the Labor Department earlier this month, as it revised up the job gains in May and June, marking job gains over the past 3 months to 190,000 per month on average. Endi