WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming initial jobless benefits plunged 36,000 last week, the largest drop in more than three years, the Labor Department said on Thursday, pegging the drop partly on difficulties calculating seasonal adjustments.
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New claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell to 296,000, the lowest level since early February and the largest one-week drop since 73,000 in early December 2001, the department said.
First-time claims fell more than Wall Street expectations for an unchanged reading from the 330,000 first reported for the week ended April 9.
A Labor Department analyst said calculations used to adjust for seasonal factors had trouble taking into account the Easter holiday, which at late March was earlier than usual.
Still, economists said the numbers indicated the labor market was doing well.
"It tells you the economy is much stronger than what the March numbers told us," Sharon Stark, fixed-income strategist at Legg Mason in Baltimore.
The closely watched four-week moving average, viewed by economists as a more reliable gauge of labor trends because it irons out fluctuations in the volatile weekly data, fell to 330,250 last week from 338,750 in the week ended April 9.
The so-called continued claims - the number of people who remain on the benefit rolls after drawing a week of benefits - fell for the second straight week, dropping 17,000 to 2.64 million in the week ended April 9, the latest week for which data are available
:MAD
Related Quotes
DJIA
NASDAQ
S&P 500
10171.45
1955.03
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+41.27
+17.72
Delayed Data
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New claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell to 296,000, the lowest level since early February and the largest one-week drop since 73,000 in early December 2001, the department said.
First-time claims fell more than Wall Street expectations for an unchanged reading from the 330,000 first reported for the week ended April 9.
A Labor Department analyst said calculations used to adjust for seasonal factors had trouble taking into account the Easter holiday, which at late March was earlier than usual.
Still, economists said the numbers indicated the labor market was doing well.
"It tells you the economy is much stronger than what the March numbers told us," Sharon Stark, fixed-income strategist at Legg Mason in Baltimore.
The closely watched four-week moving average, viewed by economists as a more reliable gauge of labor trends because it irons out fluctuations in the volatile weekly data, fell to 330,250 last week from 338,750 in the week ended April 9.
The so-called continued claims - the number of people who remain on the benefit rolls after drawing a week of benefits - fell for the second straight week, dropping 17,000 to 2.64 million in the week ended April 9, the latest week for which data are available
:MAD
