WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims dropped by 17,000 to 421,000 for the week ending Dec. 4, as the four-week moving average for claims dropped for the fifth week in a row, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims dropped to 4,086,000 for the week ending Nov. 27, the lowest level in more than two years.
Economists expected 426,000 initial claims and 4.25 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week ending Nov. 20 were revised to 438,000 from 436,000 reported last week. Continuing claims for the week ending Nov. 23 were revised to 4,277,000 from 4,270,000.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, a less volatile figure, dropped to 427,500. The four-week average has been steadily declining from a high for the year set in August. The four-week average for continuing claims fell to 4,226,000.
Alaska's initial claims data were estimated for last week, a Labor Department official said.
Federal and state emergency unemployment benefits will continue to wind down unless Congress passes an extension as part of the tax cuts deal with President Obama. If that extension passes as expected, people receiving benefits will be able to retroactively get benefits as if the programs never expired, the Labor official said. Beginning in the first two weeks of December, unemployed workers will begin to lose their extended unemployment benefits, the Labor official said.
