Initial Jobless Claims Decline

The Labor Department reported a 31,000 decline in initial jobless claims to 473,000 for the week ending August 21. This was the first decline that has been reported in one month. The news follows a string of dismal economic reports in an atmosphere of fears of a double-dip recession in the US economy. This compares with a record high figure of 500,000 reported for the prior week. The figure for the week ending August 14 was also revised upwards to 504,000. The four-week average of initial jobless claims, a better indicator of employment trends, has increased by 3,250 to 486,750. The government reported that the number of people collecting unemployment benefits rose to 10.2 million in the week ended August 7 from 9.9 million. Read more