Fewer people signed up for unemployment benefits last week, an encouraging sign that the nation’s jobs climate is improving.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 1,000 to 312,000 for the week ending July 30. Economists had predicted that claims for jobless benefits actually would rise.
The nation’s unemployment rate in June dipped to 5 percent, the lowest in nearly four years.
