Washington, Jun 29 (AP) Applications for unemployment benefits fell significantly last week after claims appeared to stabilise at modestly elevated levels in recent weeks.

US applications for jobless claims fell by 26,000 to 239,000 for the week ending June 24, the Labour Department reported Thursday. Economists were expecting the elevated claims numbers to continue above 260,000, where they had settled the past three weeks.

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The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly fluctuations, rose by 1,500 to 257,500.

Jobless claims applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.

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Overall, 1.74 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended June 17, 19,000 fewer than the previous week. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)