U.S. initial jobless claims fall to seven-week low

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid fell to a seven-week low, signaling a stable job market.

In the week ending Sept. 3, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits fell to 259,000, 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, and the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, decreased 1,750 from the previous week's unrevised average to 261,250.

This marks 79 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 of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Aug. 27 fell 7,000 from the previous week to 2,144,000.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in August, following 275,000 gains in July, while the jobless rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent for the third month in a row, close to the level of full employment, said the Labor Department last week.

So far in 2016, job growth has averaged a solid 182,000 jobs a month, well above the pace of about 80,000 jobs a month needed to maintain a low and stable unemployment rate, said Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under the White House after the Labor Department released the job data. Endi