The Labor Department said this morning that the number of U.S. workers making initial claims for unemployment benefits fell last week for the second consecutive reporting period. In the week ended August 16, initial jobless claims fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000. Economists surveyed by Reuters were expecting a significantly higher total of 443,000. However, the 4-week moving average of initial claims surged to 445,750, up by 7,250 from the previous week. This marks the highest level for the 4-week moving average since December 2001.

The number of continuing jobless claims fell by 17,000 to 3.36 million in the week ended August 9, below economists' expectations for 3.41 million. Continuing claims have been over the 3-million barrier for 17 consecutive weeks, while new-claim filings have been stuck over the 400,000 benchmark for 5 weeks. Together, the data indicate persistently weak conditions in the labor market.