Ahead Of The Bell: Jobless Claims

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits likely dropped last week, a sign the labor market is improving a bit as job cuts ease and the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession since the 1930s.

A Labor Department report is projected to show new unemployment insurance claims dropped by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 521,000 last week, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

That would largely reverse a rise in claims of 11,000 in the previous week, and resume a downward trend that saw claims drop five out of six weeks in September and earlier this month.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of layoffs and an indication of companies' willingness to hire new workers.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, dropped to 532,250, according to last week's report. That's about 125,000 below its peak for the current recession, reached this spring.

Employers have cut jobs every month since January 2008, eliminating 7.2 million positions.