By Mark Memmott
About 52,000 fewer people filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department just announced.
It said there were 565,000 such claims, down from 617,000 the week before.
The decrease may not be because of any firming up of the economy, though. The Associated Press says that:
A department analyst says the drop is mostly due to technical factors. Auto layoffs that normally take place in early July, as factories are retooled to build the next year's models, happened in the spring as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC implemented sweeping restructuring plans.
categories: National News
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