Fewer People Filed Jobless Benefits Claims Last Week

(CN) - Fewer people filed for unemployment benefits last week, a continuing sign that the U.S. job market remains healthy headed into the fall and the final weeks of the presidential election.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for jobless aid dropped by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 261,000.

Overall, the number of people receiving unemployment checks fell by 30,000 to 2.15 million, down 5 percent from a year earlier. They have remained below 300,000 for 77 straight weeks, longest streak since 1970.

The department said that no special factors appear to account for the slight decline in the numbers.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent for the week ending August 13, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 13 was 2,145,000, a decrease of 30,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 2,175,000.

The 4-week moving average was 2,155,250, an increase of 250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 2,155,000.

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