Initial jobless claims declined 5,000 to 457,000 for the week ending Nov. 28, the Labor Department reported yesterday.
It was, the fifth straight weekly drop and the lowest level of claims in more than a year.
Continuing jobless claims rose to 5.465 million for the week ending Nov. 21, the first increase in 10 weeks.
Economists expected 480,000 initial claims and 5.400 continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week of Nov. 21 were revised to 462,000 from 466,000.
Continuing claims were revised to 5.437 million from 5.423 million for the week ending Nov. 14.
