By Ben Rooney, staff reporterApril 21, 2011: 8:44 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — First-time filings for unemployment claims declined in the most recent week, but were above the key 400,000 level for the second straight week, according to a government report issued Thursday.
There were 403,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended April 16, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was down 13,000 from the previous week’s revised 416,000. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected initial claims to total 390,000 in the latest report.
In addition to the decline in initial claims, the number of Americans filing for ongoing claims for unemployment benefits dropped 7,000 to 3,695,000 in the week ended April 9, the most recent week available.
The number was roughly inline with expectations. Economists had forecast 3,650,000 continuing claims for the week.