Jobless Claims Dip By 13,000

There were 403,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, the Employment and Training Administration reports.

That's 13,000 fewer than during the previous week.

As The Associated Press notes, the decline partly reverses "a sharp jump in applications the previous week," when claims rose by 31,000. It also writes that "applications near 375,000 are consistent with sustainable job growth. Applications peaked during the [2007-2009] recession at 659,000." That happened in March 2009. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.