More economic data reports were released today offering another glimpse of the economy over the past few months.

As many analysts expected, major retailers reported declines in same-store sales in May, the Associated Press reported. Target Corp. reported a 6.1 percent drop in same-store sales, Costco Wholesale Corp.’s same-store sales fell 7 percent, BJ’s Wholesale Corp.’s sales were down 6.8 percent and Macy’s Inc.’s sales slipped 9.1 percent. Meanwhile, TJX Cos. had a 5 percent rise in same-store sales, and Buckle Inc. and Aeropostale Inc, which are part of the strong-performing teen apparel sector, reported double-digit increases.

It has become more difficult to draw conclusions from the initial retail report because the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., stopped reporting monthly same-store sales as of May.

The Labor Department also reported today that the number of people applying for jobless benefits for the first time declined by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 621,000 last week. Continuing claims, which lag initial claims by a week, fell by 15,000 to 6.7 million after setting record highs every week since Jan. 24.

Iowa was among the states with the largest increase in initial claims.

Meanwhile, the government announced that productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first quarter despite a steep drop in output because of layoffs and reduced hours. The reported increase is twice the government’s estimate last month. Labor costs rose 3 percent from the government’s previous estimate of 3.3 percent.