The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell more than forecast last week, indicating an improving labor market. Applications for jobless benefits decreased by 22,000 to 391,000 in the week ended Feb. 19, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast claims would drop to 405,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Claims have fallen in three of the past four weeks, pushing down the monthly average to the lowest level since July 2008. Companies may begin to ratchet up hiring after reducing firings, which will bring unemployment down further. That would help allay concerns from Federal Reserve policy makers who expressed “disappointment in both the pace and the unevenness of the improvements in labor markets” in the minutes of their Jan. 25-26 meeting released last week.