Jobless Claims Drop 2,000

Jobless claims dipped to 402,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 404,000 in the week ending Oct. 22, the Labor Department announced. The four-week moving average, a less volatile number that flattens out week-to-week fluctuations in the data, was 405,500, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 403,750.  The number of Americans filing for continuing unemployment claims during the week ending Oct. 15 was 3,645,000, a decrease of 96,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,741,000, and the lowest level since September 2008, Bloomberg reports. The four-week moving average was 3,701,000, a decrease of 26,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,727,750. States reported 2,921,937 persons claiming emergency unemployment benefits in the week ended Oct. 8 (the most recent data available), a decrease of 45,117 from the prior week. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs ending Oct. 8 was 6,681,507, a decrease of 14,634 from the previous week. The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 15 were in Nebraska, Oregon, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. The largest decreases were in California, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.