The number of people making new jobless claims across the country dropped by 23,000 to 340,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. California saw a huge increase in new claims.
The four-week moving average was 339,500, or a drop of 500 from the previous week.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits was 4.74 million, or a drop of nearly 100,000 from the previous week. In comparison, at this same time last year, there were 6.17 million people claiming benefits. This doesn’t include the long-term jobless, who are no longer eligible for benefits and may have given up on their job searches.