The number of people filing initial applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the government reported Thursday, offering new evidence of a rapidly strengthening jobs market. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell 36,000 to 289,000 last week, nearly reversing a large increase from last month, likely caused by cold weather and snowstorms. The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell 3,750 to 302,250. The economy has slowed in recent months, growing at less than half the 4.8 percent annual pace it reached last spring and summer. Still, the government reported last week that the economy added 295,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate fell to a nearly seven-year low of 5.5 percent. February was the 12th consecutive month that employment gains have been above 200,000, the longest such streak since 1994. Thursday's jobless-claims report showed the number of people still receiving unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to 2.42 million last week.
