WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims dropped 20,000 to 368,000 for the week ending Feb. 26, the lowest level since May 2008, while the four-week moving average fell below 400,000 for the first time since July 2008, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims fell to 3.774 million for the week ending Feb. 19, the lowest level since October 2008.
Economists expected 395,000 initial claims and 3.800 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters. Initial claims for the week ending Feb 19 were revised to 388,000 from 391,000 reported last week.
Initial claims have fallen in four of the last five weeks after they spiked in late January following disruptive snowstorms across much of the country.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure, dropped to 388,500, the lowest level since July 12, 2008. The average hit a 2010 high of 488,000 in August.
The four-week average for continuing claims dropped to 3,863,750.
No states were estimated for this report. For the week ending Feb. 19, 15 states reported a drop in initial claims of more than 1,000. No states said they saw an increase of more than 1,000 initial claims.
