By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The number of people filing initial claims for unemployment benefits declined by 11,000 in the week ended April 24 to a seasonally adjusted 448,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The level perfectly matched expectations of economists surveyed by MarketWatch. The four-week average of new claims -- considered a better gauge of underlying trends than the volatile weekly number -- rose 1,500 to stand at 462,500. While claims are down about 28% from the prior year, the level would have to shrink to about 400,000 to indicate a strong hiring trend, economists say. The number of people collecting regular state benefits dropped 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 4.65 million in the week ended April 17. The four-week average of continuing claims fell 9,000 to 4.64 million, the lowest level since January 2009. In the week ended April 10, about 10.39 million people were collecting some type of unemployment benefits, down 148,000 from the previous week's 10.54 million. About 5.4 million people are collecting extended federal benefits, which kick in if claimants' state benefits expire, generally after 26 weeks. The claims data come on the heels of a Federal Reserve statement issued Wednesday in which the U.S. central bank struck more of an upbeat tone, saying that the economy is continuing to strengthen and that the labor market beginning to improve. On May 7, the government will report key data on nonfarm payrolls for April. Economists polled by MarketWatch are looking for a gain of 175,000 and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 9.7%.

Source