The number of Americans applying for unemployment checks dropped last week to the lowest level since March, suggesting that most U.S. workers continue to enjoy unusually high job security. Jobless claims dropped by 9,000 last week to 211,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which strips out week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 3,500, to 223,250. The overall number of those receiving unemployment benefits fell by 52,000, to 1.84 million, the lowest since September. Thomas Simons and Sam Saliba, economists at Jefferies, called the drops “encouraging’’ in a commentary but cautioned that seasonal adjustments around the holidays can throw off the numbers. The U.S. job market has cooled considerably from the red-hot hiring days of 2021-2023 when the economy was bouncing back from COVID-19 lockdowns. Read the full story.