US jobless claims tick lower

[WASHINGTON] New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits ticked lower last week amid an improving jobs market, government data released on Thursday showed.

Jobless claims fell to 264,000 in the week ending May 9, a decline of 1,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said.

Analysts had forecast that claims would rise to 275,000.

New claims, which signal the pace of layoffs, trended down to a fresh 15-year low. The four-week moving average fell by 7,750 to 271,750, the lowest level since April 2000.

The US economy added a solid 223,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate fell one tenth percentage point to a seven-year low of 5.4 percent.

AFP