Initial jobless claims dropped 20,000 to 334,000 in the week ended February 1, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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Claims for the week ended January 25 were revised up to 351,000 from the initially reported 346,000.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.964 million in the week ended January 25, down from the downwardly revised 2.949 million the week before, first reported as 2.991 million.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 335,000 initial and 3.000 million continuing claims.
The four-week average of initial claims rose 250 in the week ended February 1 to 334,000.
