There were 350,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance filed last week (the period ending Oct. 19), down 12,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration said Thursday.
A broader measure — the "4-week moving average" — rose by 10,750, to 348,250. That gives a sense of the pace of claims over the course of a month.
In Thursday's report, the ETA also revised upward its estimate of the number of claims filed during the week ended Oct. 12. Previously, it said there had been 358,000. Now, it says there were 362,000.
According to The Associated Press: The latest figure was "elevated ... by technical problems in California. California is still processing an applications delayed by a computer upgrade, a government spokesman said. The partial government shutdown appeared to have little impact on the figures, he added."
Since September, when claims were running at a pace near a 6-year low, they've edged up slightly. Like Tuesday's report showing relatively weak job growth in September, the claims news signals that the economy continues to chug along at a pace not fast enough to spur big employment gains.
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