The number of people signing up for unemployment aid declined slightly last week across the United States.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department says the number of initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to a nationwide total of 428,000.

While that is a slight improvement, the figures are still above the level seen when the job market is healthy.

The U.S. unemployment rate is 9.1 percent and U.S. central bank chairman Ben Bernanke says the jobless rate is improving with “frustrating” slowness.