First time unemployment claims fall to lowest total since January

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time last week tumbled to its lowest total since January, according to new statistics released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The weekly unemployment filing report, one of the gauges used to judge the stability of employment and the economy, showed that 201,000 initial claims were filed for the week ending Sept. 16.

That is down 20,000 from the previous week's revised total of 221,000. The 20,000 one-week drops marked the biggest one-week drop since the one-week initial filings dropped 29,000 on June 20 to 236,000.

Initial filings have fallen for five of the past six weeks. The one-week total was the fewest number of people filing for unemployment benefits since 199,000 applied for the week ending Jan. 28.

The four-week moving average of first-time filings decreased by 7,750 from the previous week to 217,000.

The number of people overall fining for unemployment benefits for the week ending Sept. 9 was 1,662,000, a drop of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level. The four-week moving average tumbled to 1,687,000, some 8,750 less than the previous week's revised average.