Initial Jobless Claims Fall by 12,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Applications for jobless benefits for the week ended Saturday fell to 334,000, Labor said.

The initial claims figure was lower than economists’ forecast of 346,000, Bloomberg News reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 345,250 last week, from 352,500.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended June 1 rose by 2,000 to 2.97 million.