New claims for unemployment benefits fell to a fresh four-year low last week, the U.S. government said Thursday in a report showing continuing healing in the labor market. The Labor Department reported that jobless claims fell 5,000 to 359,000 last week, the lowest level since April 2008. The four-week moving average of jobless claims-considered a better gauge of labor-market trends-fell 3,500 to 365,000. The number of Americans still receiving unemployment benefits under regular state programs fell 41,000 last week to 3.34 million. A total of 7.15 million people were claiming unemployment benefits under all government programs, down nearly 131,500 from the previous week. U.S. employers added 227,000 jobs to their payrolls in February, increasing the total for the past three months to 734,000. The government report on March job creation is due April 6.
