New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits fell last week, according to official data released Thursday, pointing to continued improvement in the labor market.
Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, fell to 340,000 in the week ending May 18, down 23,000 from the upwardly revised prior week’s reading, the Labor Department said.
The four-week moving average of claims slipped by 500 to 339,500.