WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 last week to 351,000, matching a four-year low, the US Labor Department said Thursday.
Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 365,000 from 362,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch projected claims would fall to a seasonally-adjusted 355,000 in the week ended March 10.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, was unchanged at 355,750.
Continuing claims decreased by 81,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 3.34 million in the week ended March 3, the Labor Department said. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
About 7.42 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended Feb. 25, up 36,392 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag.
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