Jobless Claims Fall by 2,000 in Latest Week

he number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 last week to 389,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decline for the week ended Oct. 8 was less than predicted, as economists had expected about 360,000 total claims, Bloomberg reported.

About 75,000 of last week’s claims were a result of jobless workers from Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina, Bloomberg said, citing a Labor Department spokesman, though the official gave no breakdown between the storms.

The number of people filing continuing jobless claims fell to 2.873 million for the previous week ended Oct. 1, from 2.878 million a week earlier, Labor said.