Initial jobless claims dropped by 34,000 to 407,000, much lower than expected. The numbers suggest that the labor market is slowly improving, and nearing the point of reversing the negative trend driven by the deep recession.
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In another setback on employment, initial jobless claims jumped a larger than anticipated 20,000 to 457,000, the Labor Department announced Thursday. Economists had predicted initial jobless claims would total 443,000.
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Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose 13,000 to 462,000, but continuing claims plunged another 112,000 to 4.4 million, the Labor Department announced Thursday. Some of the decline in continuing claims comes from people who have exhausted their benef…