Initial Jobless Claims Fall Unexpectedly

Washington, DC, Jan. 8, 2009--Initial jobless claims for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly by 24,000 last week, according to the Labor Department, but the number of people remaining on jobless rolls rose to a 26-year high.

Initial claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 467,000 in the week ended Jan. 3 from a slightly downwardly revised 491,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said.

It was the lowest reading for initial claims since the week ending Oct. 11, when the figure was at 463,000.

Analysts had forecast 540,000 new claims versus a previously reported figure of 492,000.

Continuing claims jumped to 4.611 million in the week ended Dec. 27, the latest week for which the data is available, from 4.510 million the previous week. This was the highest reading since the week ending Nov. 20 1982.