U.S. initial jobless claims fall to 281,000

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid fell last week, a signal of an improving job market.

In the week ending July 11, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits decreased to 281,000, 15,000 less than the revised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, edged up by 3,250 to 282,500 last week.

The advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 4 decreased 112,000 from the previous week to 2,215,000.

The Federal Reserve expects the U.S. economy to strengthen over the remainder of this year and the unemployment rate to decline gradually, said the Fed chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday.

The U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent in May, the Labor Department reported earlier this month. Endi