WASHINGTON - The U.S. government says the tally of newly laid-off people seeking jobless benefits fell last week, a sign that companies are cutting fewer workers.
The Labour Department reports that the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 623,000, from a revised figure of 636,000 in the previous week. That was below analysts' expectations of 635,000.
Auto-related layoffs elevated the claims numbers in recent weeks, but a Labour Department analyst said no states cited job cuts in that sector this week.
The number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits increased to 6.78 million, the largest total on records dating back to 1967 and the 17th straight record week.
The government also reported demand for big-ticket manufactured goods soared by the largest amount in 16 months in April, the second increase in the past three months.
The Commerce Department says orders for durable goods rose by 1.9 per cent in April, more than four times the 0.4 per cent increase that had been expected.
But the government is revising down its estimate for new orders in March to show a drop of 2.1 per cent, a much bigger fall than the 0.8 per cent decline previously reported.
Still, new orders have risen in two of the past three months after having recorded six straight declines. Analysts believe this could be signalling that the deep recession in manufacturing may be bottoming out. But they believe a sustained rebound is still some distance away.
