Weekly jobless claims rise by 1K to 427K, signaling economic weakness

WASHINGTON — US applications for unemployment compensation increased by 1,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 427,000 in the week ended June 4, the Labor Department reported Thursday, a sign of persistent weakness in the economy.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected new requests to decline to 419,000 from the prior week.

Initial claims from the week ended May 28 were revised up to 426,000 from an originally reported 422,000.

Meanwhile, the average of new claims over the past four weeks dipped by 2,750 to 424,000. The monthly average was considered a more accurate measure of employment trends, because it smoothes out week-to-week volatility in the data.

The number of people who continued to receive unemployment checks dropped 71,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 3.68 million in the week ended May 28. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.

The total number of people receiving some kind of state or federal benefit — which is reported with a two-week lag — declined by 89,233 to 7.6 million in the week ended May 21.

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