The four-week moving average of jobless claims fell 500 to 214,250 in the week ended Aug. 4 from the previous week’s revised average of 214,750, the US Department of Labor announced today.

While the four-week moving average smooths results, total claims for the week ended Aug. 4 fell by 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level to 213,000.

MarketWatch reported this was the first decline in three weeks and claims haven’t been this low since the early 1970s.