MW: Weekly U.S. jobless claims drop 10,000 to 382,000
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch has expected new applications for jobless benefits to drop to 385,000. The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, declined by 5,750 to 389,500. The Labor Department also reported that the number of Americans who continue to receive state unemployment checks decreased by 9,000 to 3.72 million in the week of March 26, the lowest level since October 2008. Altogether, 8.52 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week of March 19, down nearly 246,000 from the prior week.
