Jobless claims ease from 6-year high

Number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits falls to 450,000 in latest week, still above expectations.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of out of work Americans who signed up for jobless benefits fell slightly last week from a six-year high.

The Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial filings for state jobless benefits decreased by a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 450,000 in the week ended Aug. 9.

However, the decrease in claims was far short of expectations. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com was for claims to fall to 436,000. This week's filings marked the first time that claims fell since the first week in July.

The four-week seasonally adjusted moving average of new jobless claims grew 19,500 to 440,500 in the past week. Last year, the figure was 315,500. The average is used to smooth out weekly fluctuations.

President Bush signed a bill in June to extend unemployment benefits by as long as 13 weeks for some. The new law is one of the reasons why the number of claims was so much higher than economists' predictions, according to Gus Faucher, an economist with Moody's Economy.com.

"We've had two weeks of elevated claims because of the extension of benefits, and that's a temporary factor. The extension is going to keep claims high for the next few weeks, then claims will go back down," Faucher said.