Suggesting that the U.S. job market is healthier than recently announced layoffs would suggest, initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 303,000 last week, 10,000 fewer than the previous week's unrevised figure of 313,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported on April 20.
The department's four-week moving average for jobless claims, generally considered a better indicator of underlying labor market conditions because it smoothes out week-to-week changes, also declined in the week ending April 15. The average was 305,250, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 307,500 claims.
