Jobless Claims Drop for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 21,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The drop to 305,000 new claims was below economists’ forecasts of a small gain to 325,000, Bloomberg reported.

The less-volatile four-week moving average fell to 328,750 from 333,250 the previous week.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to 2.521 million for the previous week ended April 21, from 2.459 million a week earlier, Labor reported.