Chat Place Forum

Initial jobless claims dropped to the lowest number since April last week, to 303,000 people filing a first-time claim. The week before, the number had risen to some 328,000. 10,000 of last week's claims were as a result of Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita, according to government data. Overall, some 545,000 people have filed jobless claims as a direct result of the hurricanes, which hit in September. The four-week average also dropped. Source: news.yahoo.com