The US four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance edged down to 224,250 last week, down 1,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average, the US Department of Labor reported.

The four-week moving average decreases the volatility of the weekly numbers. Total initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended June 9 fell to 218,000, down 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level.

Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment — continuing claims that represent how many people are already collecting unemployment benefits — fell by 49,000 to 1.697 million in early June to the lowest level since Dec. 1, 1973, when it was 1.692 million.

MarketWatch reported the rate of layoffs nationwide fell for the third straight week, indicating no deterioration in a “rock-solid” US labor market in which work is easy to find. Initial claims fell by more than predicted by its poll of economists, which had forecast a 222,000 reading. And according to Reuters, the reports came a day after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for a second time this year and forecast two more rate hikes in the second half of 2018.