Jobless Claims at Six-Year Low WASHINGTON - The job market is showing signs that it may be strengthening. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits has sunk to its lowest point in six years as fewer companies have laid off employees. The report from the Labor Department on Thursday reinforced recent private surveys showing that service companies added jobs in August at the fastest pace in six months and that more small businesses are stepping up hiring plans than at any time since the recession began in 2007. All of this is prompting some economists to forecast greater job gains in September than in recent months. "If you put all that together, it suggests that there has been an improvement in job market conditions," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. Mr. Ashworth predicts that employers will have added 220,000 jobs in September. That would be the biggest gain in nearly seven months and would be a sharp reversal from recent months. Job growth has averaged just 155,000 a month since April, down from 205,000 a month in January through April. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent in August from 7.4 percent in July. The Labor Department is to report on September employment on Oct. 4. Last week, initial applications for unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 305,000, the department reported. The number of jobless claims reached 294,000 two weeks earlier, but that figure was distorted by computer problems in California and Nevada. Excluding the distorted figure, last week's 305,000 applications were the fewest since September 2007, in a sign of the rebound from the recession. The Commerce Department said Thursday that the nation's economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the second quarter, confirming its previous estimate of economic growth, which was made last month. But many analysts contend growth is slowing to a sluggish rate of 2 percent or less in the current quarter. Economists had hoped it would improve in the second half of the year. If economists are right that economic activity slowed in the summer, it would be the third quarter in the last four when growth rates have been 2 percent or less. Growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 nearly stalled at a barely discernible 0.1 percent, then improved slightly to 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013. A separate report released on Thursday showed that fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in August, a third straight monthly decline, as higher mortgage rates deterred some potential buyers. The National Association of Realtors said its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales declined 1.6 percent to 107.7 last month. The index measures signed contracts.