Fewer Americans than forecast filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, easing concern that the labor market was deteriorating.

Applications for jobless benefits decreased by 14,000 in the week ended June 30 to 374,000, the fewest since mid-May, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 385,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. A Labor Department spokesman said there was nothing unusual in the data.

Fewer firings help pave the way for faster job creation when companies grow more confident about the economic outlook. A report tomorrow may show the world's largest economy added 90,000 jobs in June, capping a second quarter where employment growth slowed to half the pace of the prior three months.