Washington, Aug 13 (IANS): Initial unemployment claims in the US have dropped to 375,000, falling for a third week in a row, the Labour Department reported.

In the week ending August 7, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 12,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 387,000, according to a report released on Thursday by the Department's Bureau of Labour Statistics.

The four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, however, increased by 1,750 to 396,250.

In recent months, initial jobless claims dropped to the lowest levels since March 2020 by multiple times, but the declining trend was repeatedly reversed, indicating a bumpy economic recovery.

The latest report also showed that the number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending July 31 decreased by 114,000 to 2.87 million.

The number had peaked in April and May last year, when it was over 20 million.

Meanwhile, the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs, state and federal combined, for the week ending July 24 also decreased by 919,593 to 12 million, as the country continues to grapple with the fallout of the pandemic.