MEMO: STATE UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS DOWN LAST WEEK

New claims for state unemployment benefits declined last week for the first time in four weeks but were still in a range indicating that the corporate appetite for workers has diminished.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 352,000 for the work week ending Feb. 10, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It was the first decline since Jan. 13, when claims dropped by 40,000.

Because weekly claims figures can jump around a lot, economists tend to focus on the more stable four-week moving average of claims as a better barometer of what is happening in the labor market. That average, which smoothes out weekly fluctuations, rose last week to 345,000, the highest point since Jan. 13, when claims were at 349,750.