Jobless claims continue to tell a relatively encouraging story for South Florida, as the number of new applications fell to a four-year low last month.

In July, the newly jobless filed 7,122 first-time claims for unemployment benefits in Broward. That was down 20 percent from the prior year, and brought the 12-month average down to a level last seen in September 2008.

Miami-Dade saw a similar trend, with the 10,190 claims filed in July dropping 14 percent from where they were in July 2011. That brought Miami-Dade’s 12-month average back to a level last seen in August 2008.

Unemployment claims loosely measure the number of people losing their jobs, but not the rate of employers adding them. That number will be released Friday, when Florida issues July employment reports for all counties in the state.

The Miami Herald’s Economic Time Machine tracks 60 local indicators in an effort to chart South Florida’s recovery from the Great Recession. By comparing current conditions to where they were before the downturn, the ETM attempts to measure how far back the recession set the economy. The answer so far: June 2003. Visit ETM headquarters at miamiherald.com/economic-time-machine for the latest updates.