Jobless Claims Decline for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 last week to 453,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decrease for the week ended Saturday was higher than economists’ forecasts of claims falling to 460,000, from a revised 469,000 the week before, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 458,000, from 464,250 the week before.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended Sept. 18 dropped by 83,000 from a week earlier, to 4.46 million, Labor said.