First-time jobless claims hit 56-month low

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Labor Department Thursday said first-time jobless benefits claims fell to the lowest level since February 2008 in the week ending Saturday.

Initial unemployment benefits claims for the week dropped by 30,000 to to 339,000, down from the revised figure of 369,000 for the previous week.

The four-week rolling average was 364,000, a drop of 11,500 from the previous week's revised average.

The advance number of unadjusted actual first-time jobless benefits claims under state programs totaled 327,063 for the week, an increase of 25,990 from the previous week, the Labor Department said.

There were 405,906 initial benefits claims in the comparable week in 2011, the department's Employment and Training Administration said.