New jobless claims fall unexpectedly to 610,000

The number of newly laid-off Americans requesting unemployment insurance benefits fell last week, a sign that job cuts could be easing.
APR 16, 2009
The number of newly laid-off Americans requesting unemployment insurance benefits fell last week, a sign that job cuts could be easing. The Labor Department says its tally of initial jobless claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 610,000 from a revised figure of 663,000 the previous week. That is significantly below analysts' expectations of 655,000. The number of people claiming benefits for more than a week increased to 6 million, the highest on records dating to 1967.

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