WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims declined 5,000 to 457,000 for the week ending Nov. 28, the fifth straight weekly drop and the lowest level of claims in more than a year, the Labor Department reported today.
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 have fallen from high of 674,000 claims in March of this year. Initial claims are now at the lowest level since Sept. 6, 2008.
Continuing claims have experienced a similar decline in the second half of this year, down from a 2009 high of 6.904 million in June. In the last week of November last year, 4.354 million workers filed for continuing unemployment benefits. Seven states are reporting workers who have filed for the continuing unemployment benefits extension passed by Congress last month, a Labor Department official said.
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.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, a less volatile figure, fell for the 13th consecutive week, dropping to 481,250. The four-week average for continuing claims dropped to 5,541,500 million.
