Weekly U.S. jobless claims drop by 24,000 to 334,000

Weekly U.S. jobless claims drop by 24,000 to 334,000

  The number of people who applied for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits dropped 24,000 to 334,000 in the week that ended July 13, hitting the lowest level of new claims since early May, signaling a slower pace of layoffs, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected initial claims to fall to 341,000 from an original estimate of 360,000 in the prior week. However, it's difficult to precisely measure claims this month because of distortions from events such as annual auto plant shutdowns and the July 4 holiday, they said. On Thursday, the government slightly revised the claims level for the week that ended July 6 to 358,000. The four-week average of initial claims, a less volatile gauge, declined 5,250 to 346,000. Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag and reflect the number of people already receiving benefits, rose 91,000 to 3.11 million in the week that ended July 6, reaching the highest level since February. The four-week average of these continuing claims increased 37,000 to 3.02 million.