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The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in unchanged in the week ended November 16th.
The report said initial jobless claims came in at 227,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 219,000 from the 225,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unchanged figure, jobless claims are hovering at their highest level since hitting 229,000 in the week ended June 22.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average rose to 221,000, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 217,500.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also inched up by 3,000 to 1.695 million in the week ended November 9th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also crept up to 1,693,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,690,000.
