WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped for a second consecutive week, further evidence that the job market is slowly improving.
The Labor Department said Thursday that initial applications for jobless benefits dropped by 11,000 to 448,000, the lowest level in four weeks. The new total was slightly higher than economists had expected.
The four-week average for claims edged up slightly to 462,500, still above the level that economists believe signals sustained improvements in the job market.
Claims have been on a roller coaster in recent weeks, posting sharp increases in the first two weeks of April and then falling for the past two weeks. Part of those swings reflected troubles that the government has in seasonally adjusting the figures around Easter, which falls at different times each year.
However, economists said the uneven declines in claims also reflect the fact that the labor market is still struggling to emerge from the country’s worst recession since the 1930s.
The unemployment rate has been stuck at 9.7 percent for three months. Many economists believe that the 10.1 percent jobless rate hit in October may turn out to be the peak for unemployment in this slump. The economy did add 162,000 jobs in March.
