Jobless Claims Drop for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The decrease to 382,000 new claims for the week ended Saturday was just slightly larger than economists’ forecasts of 383,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of new claims, a less volatile measure, fell to 385,250, the lowest level since July 2008.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended March 12 fell by 2,000 from a week earlier, to 3.72 million, the fewest since September 2008.