The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits decreased more than expected over the past week, but remained unusually high amid indications that the labour market’s recovery is losing steam as government support cuts off.
The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled 881,000 seasonally adjusted claims for the week ending August 29, compared to 1.011 million the previous week. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 950,000 applications in the last week.
