Initial jobless claims decreased to 469,000 for the week ending Feb. 27, the Labor Department reported yesterday.
Continuing claims dropped to 4.5 million for the week ending Feb. 20, the lowest level in more than a year.
Economists expected 469,000 initial claims and 4.6 million continuing claims.
For the week ending Feb. 20, initial claims were revised to 498,000 from 496,000 initially reported. Continuing claims were revised to 4.634 million from 4.617 million for the Feb. 13 week.