Jobless Claims in U.S. Fell More Than Forecast Last Week
An employee welds the tank of a trailer in Portland, Oregon.
Photographer: Meg Roussos/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits declined more than forecast last week, returning to a level that’s consistent with an improving labor market.
Initial jobless claims dropped 36,000 to a three-week low of 289,000 in the period ended March 7 from a revised 325,000 in the prior week, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 305,000 new applications.