The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 22,000 to 391,000 in the week ended Feb. 19, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The four-week moving average was 402,000, a decrease of 16,500 from the previous week’s average of 418,500, and the lowest monthly average since July 2008.

“The labor market has been on the upswing,” said Millian Mulraine, a senior U.S. strategist at TD Securities Inc. in New York, in an interview with Bloomberg. “As the pace of layoffs continues to decline, it is an indication that not only are businesses not firing as fast as they used to, but they may in fact begin hiring.”

Companies may begin to ratchet up hiring after reducing firings, which will bring unemployment down further, according to Bloomberg. That would help allay concerns from Federal Reserve policy-makers who expressed “disappointment in both the pace and unevenness of the improvements in labor markets” in the minutes of their Jan. 25-26 meeting released last week.

A Labor Department official told Bloomberg there were no special factors affecting the figures. Thirty-five states and territories reported a decrease in claims, while 18 had an increase.