WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims dropped by 37,000 to 404,000 for the week ending Jan. 15, the first drop in three weeks, reversing a large increase in claims reported last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims fell by 26,000 to 3.861 million, the third straight weekly drop.
Economists expected 420,000 initial claims and 3.900million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The initial claims figure for Jan. 8 was revised to 441,000, slightly below the 445,000 number reported last week. Still, the revised figure is the highest number of initial claims since the week ended Nov. 11. The first full week of a new year is typically the highest number of unadjusted initial claims for the year, a Labor Department official said.
The continuing claims figure for Jan. 1 was revised higher to 3.887 million from 3.879 million.
The four-week moving average of initial claims slid by 4,000 to 411,750. The four-week average for continuing claims decreased by 52,250 to 4.006 million.
Iowa, Hawaii and the District of Columbia had their initial claims data estimated for the week of Jan. 15, the Labor official said.
