Weekly U.S. Jobless Claims Fall As Labor Market Continues To Improve

According to the Labor Department, jobless claims dropped by 15,000 to 214,000 for the week ending March 12.

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs continue to fall amid a strong job market rebound.

Jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 214,000 for the week ending March 12, down from the previous week's 229,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs.

In total, 1.4 million Americans — a 50-year low — were collecting jobless aid the week that ended March 5. That's down 71,000 from the week before that.