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Initial jobless claims dropped by 12,000 to 365,000 in the week ended Sept. 1, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists had called for a decline to 370,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, climbed to 371,250 from the previous week’s average of 371,000.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Aug. 25 fell by 6,000 to 3.32 million.