Initial Jobless Claims Drop for Week

Initial jobless claims decreased by 30,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims decreased to 339,000 for the week ended Saturday, the fewest since Feb. 2008, Labor said.

The initial claims figure was lower than economists’ forecasts of 370,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, fell to 364,000 last week from 375,000.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Sept. 22 dropped by 15,000 to 3.27 million.

Labor initially reported the prior week’s jobless claims as 369,000.