The Labor Department said on Thursday that first-time unemployment claims dropped to their lowest weekly mark since mid-May. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPIJuly 20 (UPI) — The number of U.S. residents filing for initial unemployment claims last week dropped to its lowest total since mid-May but still remains well over the 200,000 threshold, the Labor Department said in its latest data released on Thursday.The total for first-time filings for the week ending July 15 reached a seasonally-adjusted 228,000, a drop of 9,000 from the week before. It was the smallest initial total since May 13, when 225,000 filed for unemployment insurance for the first time.First-time unemployment filings reach a 2023 high of 265,000 on June 17 before starting its uneven slide. Thursday’s figures were the third consecutive week the total decreased.The Unemployment Initial Claims report said the new figures changed the initial jobless filings’ four-week average to 237,500 a decrease of more than 9,000 from 246,750.The report said the overall number of people filing jobless claims for the week ending July 8 was 1.75 million, an increase of 33,000 from the week before. The Labor Department revised down the total from the previous week by 8,000, accounting for part of the increase total.The four-week moving average for overall unemployment filings was 1,731,500, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week.
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