Initial Claims Fall by 9,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 for the week ended Saturday, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial claims declined to 349,000, from a revised 358,000 last week, the department said in its weekly report.

The less-volatile four-week moving average rose to 360,500, the highest level since October 2005, Labor said.
 
The weekly claims level was inline with economists’ forecasts, Bloomberg News reported.

However, the number of people continuing to collect benefits, a measure used by economists to gauge hiring, rose to the highest level in more than two years, climbing to 2.784 million for the week ended Feb. 9, from 2.736 million the previous week, Labor said.