First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell by 15,000 for the week ended February 4 to 358,000, remaining below 400,000 for the fourth straight week. The prior week’s claims data were revised upward by 6,000, making this week’s drop steeper than expected.

As reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, continuing claims for unemployment insurance increased 64,000 to 3,515,000 for the week ended January 28, giving back most of the previous week’s decline.

The total number of individuals receiving benefits – including emergency and extended programs – inched up by about 8,000 to 7,663,205. This compares, though, with 12,758,000 people classified as unemployed by the

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in January according to the employment situation report released last Friday.

The four week moving average of new claims – smoothing volatility in the weekly numbers – fell 11,000 for the week ended February 4 to 366,250, the lowest level since May 2008. The average for continuing claims dropped 33,000 to 3,498,000, the lowest level since September 2008.

This week’s report continues the generally declining trend in claims filings since last September and indicates the pace of layoffs has slowed. That continuing claims rose modestly suggests more people are finding jobs although some people are exhausting their benefits, contributing to the decline.

Tuesday’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report from the BLS offered further support for an improving labor market, showing an increase in the number of job openings to 3.4 million at the end of December, up from 3.1 million at the end of November.

The JOLTS data also showed there were 3.9 unemployed persons for every job opening in December, down from a peak of nearly 7 unemployed individuals for each available job in August 2009. When the Great Recession began in December 2007 the number of unemployed persons per job opening was 1.8.