Jobless Claims Decrease for Week

Initial jobless claims dropped by 6,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

New claims fell to 388,000 for the week ended Saturday, higher economists’ forecasts of a drop to 380,000 from the originally reported 382,000 in the prior week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of new claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 394,250.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended March 19 fell by 51,000 from a week earlier, to 3.71 million, the fewest since October 2008.