Seasonally adjusted initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits for the week ended Sept. 14 rose to 208,000 from an upwardly revised 206,000 in the previous week, data from the U.S. Labor Department showed.
The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was for a reading of 215,000.
The four-week moving average declined to 212,250 from a revised 213,000 in the prior week.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate, which measures the proportion of the labor force receiving unemployment benefits, was unchanged at 1.2% for the week ended Sept. 7. Insured unemployment numbers decreased to 1,661,000 from the prior week's upwardly revised 1,674,000.
