Taunting forecasts that had claims rising to 330,000, initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 295,000 last week, some 8,000 fewer than the previous week's revised figure of 303,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported on June 15.
The department's four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths out week-to-week changes and is generally a better indicator of underlying labor market conditions, also fell last week. The average was 315,750, a decrease of 12,250 claims from the previous week's revised average of 328,000.
