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WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the week ending Aug. 8, 963,000 people filed first-time unemployment claims, which marks the first time since the week ending March 14 that fewer than 1 million Americans filed for assistance, the U.S. Department of Labor reported this morning. The most recent figure is a 228,000 decrease on a week-over-week basis. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting 1.1 million claims for the week.
The four-week moving average stood at nearly 1.3 million claims, a decrease of 86,250 from the previous four-week average.
For the week ending Aug. 1, continuing claims — for which data is a week behind — decreased by 604,000 from July 25 to 15.5 million.