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First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back further off the record high set in late March in the week ended May 16th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 2.438 million, a decrease of 249,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.687 million.
Economists had expected jobless claims to tumble to 2.400 million from the 2.981 million originally reported for the previous month.
Jobless claims fell for the seventh straight week after reaching a record high of 6.867 million in the week ended March 28th.
