By Noreen Burke
Investing.com -- The number of Americans applying for initial unemployment benefits came in at 1.006 million last week, underlining concerns that the recovery in the labor market is stumbling.
Economists had forecast a decline to 1 million. The prior week's figure was revised slightly lower to 1.104 million from 1.106 million.
The number of continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag to initial claims, decreased to 14.535 million. The previous week's figure was also revised downwards to 14.785 million.
The number of people making an initial claim for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance fell by 1.04 million to 27.017 million in the week to August 8.
At the same time, a separate report showed that the contraction in second quarter U.S. GDP was revised up to -31.7% in annualized terms from a preliminary estimate of -32.9%