The weekly figure for new for unemployment claims fell slightly but remained higher than the expectations of most economists, according to Labor Department figures released Thursday.
The Department of Labor estimated that for the week ending June 16, new unemployment claims came in at a seasonally adjusted level of 387,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 389,000.
The decrease comes in part because revised figures put the previous week's level of new unemployment claims up from the 386,000 initially reported.
As a result, the current level of 387,000 is higher than the 383,000 predicted by most economists.
The four-week moving average of new unemployment claims, a figure that reduces some of the week-to-week fluctuations in the data, ticked up 3,500 to 386,250 from the previous week's revised average of 382,750.
The four-week average of new unemployment claims has remained below the level of 400,000 per week that most economists believe is crucial to lead to a drop in the unemployment rate since late October 2011.
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