Those Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits were fewer in number last week, providing yet another healthy signal for the labour market stateside.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., fell by 12,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 260,000 in the week ended Nov. 21. Economists had expected 270,000 new claims last week.
Last week’s level of claims is only slightly above a four-decade low touched in July.
Meantime, the department also said the four-week moving average of claims was 271,000 for the Nov. 21 week, unchanged from the prior week.
Washington said there were no special factors affecting the latest data, released a day earlier than usual due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Meanwhile, the number of continuing unemployment benefits, claims drawn by workers for more than a week, increased by 34,000 to 2,207,000 in the week ended Nov. 14. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
