After three weeks of elevated numbers, applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week.
American workers filed 239,000 applications for unemployment assistance in the week ending June 24, according to statistics released Thursday by the Labor Department.
That’s 26,000 fewer than the previous week. Economists had reportedly expected claims to remain elevated at or above the 260,000 claims that had been filed each of the previous three weeks.
According to the Labor Department, the four-week moving average of claims was up by 1,500 to 257,500.
Some 1.74 million people were collecting unemployment benefits overall the week that ended June 17. That’s some 19,000 fewer than the previous week.
