WASHINGTON – Seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 367,000 for the week ending Jan.28, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 379,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims dropped to 3.437 million for the week ending Jan. 21, a decrease of 130,000 from the previous week's revised level of 3.567 million and the lowest level since Sept. 6, 2008, when they were 3.428 million.
The 367,000 initial claims were lower than the median 370,000 projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters and the 3.437 million of continuing claims were below the median 3.560 million they estimated.
The four-week moving average for initial claims was 375,750, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 377,750.
The four-week moving average for continuing claims was 3.528 million, which was down 43,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3.571 million average and the lowest since Sept. 20, 2008, when it was 3.494 million.
