WASHINGTON -- The number of people requesting unemployment benefits declined for the second straight week, suggesting that the slowing economy isn't prompting widespread job cuts.
New claims for unemployment aid fell last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists had expected a slight increase, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, fell by 2,500 to 485,500, its first decrease after four straight increases.
Even with the declines, claims are still at much higher levels than they would be in a healthy economy. When economic output is growing rapidly and employers are hiring, claims generally drop below 400,000.
Still, some economists saw the report as mildly encouraging.
It appears "that a wave of panicked layoffs has passed, as companies have become a bit calmer in the face of the financial and economic disruptions of late spring and early summer," Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics, wrote in a note to clients.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said productivity fell in the spring by the largest amount in nearly four years while labor cost rose. That indicates companies may have reached the limits of their ability to squeeze more work out of their reduced work forces.
Requests for jobless benefits haven't improved much this year. New claims stood at 470,000 during the week of Jan. 9, almost the same as last week's figure.
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