Still, claims remain above 400,000 per week; a level which can indicate declines in employment, according to the Joint Economic Committee.

The four-week moving average of claims for the week ended July 24 fell by 4,500, or 1.0%, to 452,500.

Jobless claims for the previous week, ended July 17, had been revised up by 4,000 to 468,000. That week jobless claims had jumped by 41,000. California alone reported an increase in jobless claims of 19,809 (not seasonally adjusted) for that week; the state cited layoffs in the service industry as the reason.