Jobless Claims Off by 8,000 Last Week

Washington, DC, July 19, 2007--Applications for initial jobless claims fell by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 301,000 in the week ending July 14, according to a Labor Department report. 

It's the lowest number of initial jobless claims in two months.

The four-week moving average of new claims - which smoothes out distortions caused by one-time events such as holidays and weather - fell by 6,250 to 312,000, the lowest in five weeks.

The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits rose by 20,000 in the week ending July 7 to a seasonally adjusted 2.57 million, the most in three months. The four-week average of continuing claims rose to 2.54 million, the most in four months.