WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign the job market might be healing after a recent slump.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 398,000. That is the first time applications have fallen below 400,000 in 16 weeks.
The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 413,750, the lowest since the week of April 23.
Stocks rose after the report was released. But they closed lower for the day after uncertainty in Washington over the debt crisis led to a late-afternoon sell-off.
Economists cautioned that the lower level of unemployment benefit applications reflects only one week of data and that doesn’t necessarily signal a trend.
The drop “is clearly good news,” said Joshua Shapiro, an economist at MFR Inc. Still, “we would prefer to see further data before concluding that the earlier downtrend in claims is being re-established.”
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits remains higher than would be expected in a healthy economy. Consumers are holding back on spending because of stagnant wages, high unemployment, tighter credit and depressed home prices.
Unemployment applications had fallen in February to 375,000, a level that signals healthy job growth. But they then surged to an eight-month high of 478,000 in April and have declined only slowly since then.
