U.S. Jobless Claims Decline Signals Still Healthy Labor Market

WASHINGTON—The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign the labor market remains in expansion mode.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000 in the week ended Dec. 3, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 255,000 new claims last week. Claims for the week ended Nov. 26 were unrevised at 268,000

Data on unemployment applications can be volatile from week to week, especially in the holiday period between Thanksgiving and mid-January. On an unadjusted basis, claims typically peak for the year in January, a time when seasonal employees are dismissed and year-end layoffs are completed.

Seasonally adjusted claims had climbed by 35,000 over the prior two weeks before the latest decline. The more-stable four-week moving average edged up last week by 1,000 to 252,500. The average figure remains near a four-decade low.

Initial claims have held below 300,000 for 92 consecutive weeks, the longest such streak since 1970—when the U.S. population and workforce were far smaller than they are today.

The U.S. labor market is broadly healthy. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in November, the lowest since August 2007. That figure reflected some people finding jobs, while even more dropped out of the workforce. Nonfarm employers added 178,000 jobs last month, essentially matching monthly job growth recorded so far this year.

The Labor Department said no special factors affected the latest claims data.

Thursday’s report also showed continuing unemployment claims, drawn by workers for longer than a week, fell by 79,000 to 2,005,000 in the week ended Nov. 26. Data on continuing claims are released with a one-week lag. (Source)