There was a slight decline in the number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department just reported.
Claims dipped to 570,000 from 574,000 the week before. According to the Associated Press, forecasters had thought claims might decline a bit more, to around 560,000.
As for the number of people actually receiving unemployment benefits, the most-recent four-week ''moving average'' was down by just more than 27,000, to 6.22 million.
