Slight Decline in Claims for U.S. Jobless Benefits The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits was little changed last week, according to government data on Thursday, suggesting that the labor market was still struggling. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 389,000 from the previously reported 386,000. The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, increased 3,500 to 386,250 - the highest level since early December. "This confirms the weak labor market we have," said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C. "I suspect we would see a modest rebound in payrolls in June but it would still be below 150,000. It's going to be another month of subpar jobs data. Labor market weakness prompted the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to ease monetary policy further by extending a program to re-weight bonds it already holds toward longer maturities to hold down borrowing costs. Much of the recent weakness in the labor market has been caused by a decline in hiring, rather than increased layoffs. New applications for unemployment benefits have barely budged since April. The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid was unchanged at 3.3 million in the week ended June 9. The number of people on extended benefits fell 24,638 to 110,864 in the week ended June 2, the latest week for which data is available, as more states lost eligibility for extended benefits for the long-term unemployed. Economists expect that as more people fall off the unemployment benefit rolls, that will push down the jobless rate as they are forced to take jobs they would not normally have considered or drop out of the labor force. A total of 5.83 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during the week ended June 2 under all programs, down 1,164 from the previous week.