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Initial jobless claims dropped by 6,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

New claims fell to 388,000 for the week ended Saturday, higher economists’ forecasts of a drop to 380,000 from the originally reported 382,000 in the prior week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of new claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 394,250.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended March 19 fell by 51,000 from a week earlier, to 3.71 million, the fewest since October 2008.