Jobless claims fall to 452,000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the drop wasn't enough to reverse a big increase the previous week.

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 452,000, the Labor Department said today.

The decline comes after the department substantially revised the previous week's figure to show a rise of 26,000. That was double the increase initially reported.

Even with last week's decline, applications remain stuck near the 450,000 level. They have fluctuated around that point for most of this year.

"The underlying trend in claims still looks resolutely flat, which means we see little chance of any sustained improvement in the private sector payroll numbers any time soon," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

The revision occurred after several states that had estimated their totals from two weeks ago subsequently found that claims were higher than estimated.