Jobless Claims Decline by 35,000 for Week

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment benefits fell by 35,000 to 355,000 last week as filings by workers from workers displaced by the Gulf Coast hurricanes, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decline for the week ended Oct. 15 was greater than predicted, as economists had expected 365,000 total claims, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell to 376,000 from 396,000 a week earlier, Labor said.

The number of people filing continuing jobless claims fell to 2.894 million for the previous week ended Oct. 8, from 2.858 million a week earlier, Labor said.