graphic
News > Economy
U.S. jobless claims drop
August 2, 2001: 8:50 a.m. ET

New claims fall for third consecutive week to lowest level since February
graphic
graphic graphic
graphic
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Lines at the unemployment office grew shorter for the third week in a row last week, the government said Thursday, hinting at a slight pickup in the U.S. job market a day ahead of the monthly employment report.

New claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 346,000 in the week ended July 28 from a revised 369,000 the prior week, and were at their lowest level since hitting 330,000 in the week ended Feb 17, the Labor Department reported. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast new claims of  390,000.

Click here for the latest on layoffs

New claims had fallen below 400,000 for the first time in more than a month the week before.

The four-week moving average of new claims, considered a better gauge of jobless trends, fell to 395,250 from the previous period's revised 409,750. Economists watch the four-week moving average more closely since it smoothes fluctuations in the weekly data.

Continued claims -- those by workers who already have claimed at least a week of benefits – fell to 3.0 million in the week ended July 21, the latest data available, from a revised 3.1 million the prior week.

The report on weekly jobless claims comes a day before the Labor Department reports on July unemployment – the government's first look at the economy's performance last month. graphic

  RELATED STORIES

U.S jobless claims drop below 400,000 - July 26, 2001

Job cuts soared in March - survey - April 5, 2001

  RELATED SITES

United States Department of Labor


Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney




graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.