New Jobless Claims Drop to 336,000

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined last week to the lowest level in a month, government figures showed Thursday.

Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000, to 336,000, from a revised 347,000, the Labor Department said. Filings have averaged 345,387 this year, down from 402,000 in 2003.

Companies are forecast to add workers in the second half to keep up with demand as they rebuild inventories and update equipment. A report from the Labor Department today may show that the economy added 240,000 jobs in July after a gain of 112,000 in June, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

The number of claims last week was the lowest since the week ended July 3, when the figure was 309,000. Economists predicted that claims would fall last week to 340,000 from the 345,000 initially reported for the previous week.