WASHINGTON - Seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 374,000 for the week ending June 30, while continuing claims for the previous week rose slightly to 3.306 million, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The 374,000 initial claims declined 14,000 from the previous week's revised number of 388,000, originally reported as 386,000.
The 3.306 million continuing claims represented an increase of 4,000 over the previous week's figure of 3.302 million, originally reported as 3.296 million.
The initial claims were much fewer than the median estimate of 385,000 projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters, but the continuing claims were close to their projection of 3.300 million.
The four-week moving average for initial claims was 385,750, down 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 387,250, which was originally reported as 386,750.
The four-week moving average for continuing claims was 3.304 million, down 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 3.307 million.
Labor Department officials estimated data for the state of Alaska, but did not expect that to impact national figures.
