Fewer seek jobless benefits

WASHINGTON – Little by very little, the job market is getting better.

A closely watched measure of the jobs crisis, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time each week, fell to 388,000 in a report released Thursday, its lowest point since April.

The four-week average, which economists check because it smooths out the week-to-week fluctuations in the job market, dropped below 400,000 for the first time in seven months.

Claims would have to be below 375,000 – and consistently – to signal the sustained job gains that the United States needs to lower its 9 percent unemployment rate. But economists were at least encouraged by the trend.

“The level isn’t as important as the change,” said Michael Gapen, senior U.S. economist at Barclays Capital. “And right now that’s suggesting moderate improvement.”

The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits fell to 3.6 million. That is the fewest since Sept. 20, 2008 – the week that Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and started the financial meltdown.

The nation added 80,000 jobs in October, the 13th straight month of gains. It added more in August and September – 104,000 and 158,000 – than the government first thought. It takes about 125,000 a month to keep up with population growth.

The unemployment claims figure suggests businesses haven’t become spooked and started laying off workers because of the turmoil in Europe, where one country after another is wrestling with debt problems.

Still, “layoffs aren’t holding back the economy, it’s the lack of hiring,” said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Analytics. “Businesses seem content just sitting on the sidelines for now.”