WASHINGTON — Initial jobless claims dropped 36,000 to 383,000 for the week ending Feb. 5, the lowest level since July 2008, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims fell by 47,000 to 3.888 million for the week ending Jan. 29.
January snow storms closed many state unemployment offices across the country. The closures caused initial claims filings to spike once the offices reopened. Those fluctuations have now evened out in the initial claims data, a Labor Department official said.
Economists expected 410,000 initial jobless claims and 3.900 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week ending Jan. 29 were revised to 419,000 from 415,000 reported last week. Continuing claims were revised to 3.935 million for the week ending Jan. 22.
The four-week moving average for initial claims dropped to 415,500. The four-week average was flat at 3.932 million.
