Initial Jobless Claims Fall by 23,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 23,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Applications for jobless benefits for the week ended Saturday fell to 340,000, Labor said.

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

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 339,500 last week, from 340,000.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended May 11 fell by 112,000 to 2.91 million, the fewest since March 2008.