New jobless claims hold above 400,000

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose again and stayed above the 400,000 mark for the ninth consecutive week.

While a level below 400,000 is typically associated with payroll growth, claims have now topped this mark for the last nine weeks.

There were 427,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended June 4, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was up 1,000 from the week before, and slightly worse than the 423,000 claims economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected.

Continuing claims — which include people filing for the second week of benefits or more — edged lower to 3,676,000 in the week ended May 28, a decline of 71,000 from the week before.