Initial Jobless Claims Fall by 11,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Applications for jobless benefits for the week ended Saturday declined to 346,000, Labor said.

The initial claims figure was higher than economists’ forecast of 345,000, Bloomberg News reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 352,500 last week, from 348,000.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended May 25 fell by 52,000 to 2.95 million.