Initial filings for unemployment insurance fell to the lowest level since late June last week, a sign that the labor market is recovering amid a slowing economy.
Total claims were 232,000 for the week ending August 27, down 5,000 from the previous period and the lowest since June 25, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones searched 245,000.
Claims continued to grow to 1.44 million, up 26,000 from the previous level in data that ran after the number of headlines a week.
The numbers come a day ahead of the closely watched nonfarm payrolls report for August, though it falls outside the survey week that the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to compile that metric. Wall Street is expecting that report to show job gains in August, a notoriously volatile month, to total 318,000 people.
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