WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid rose to 239,000, lower than market expectation, a new signal that job market kept stable.
In the week ending Feb. 11, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 239,000, an increase of 5,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. This is lower than the market expectation of 245,000.
The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility increased 500 from the previous week's revised average to 245,250.
Meanwhile, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 4 fell 3,000 from the previous week to 2,076,000.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the U.S. economy has continued to make progress toward the maximum employment and price stability objectives.
The U.S. private sector added 246,000 jobs in January, the second highest level in a year, said the National Employment Report released jointly by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Moody's Analytics earlier this month.
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