Washington, DC, December 14, 2006--The number of Americans filing for first-time state unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level since mid-October, indicating a somewhat tighter labor market, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 20,000 to 304,000 in the week ending Dec. 9, government figures showed. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of new claims fell by 1,500 to 327,250, according to the data.
Initial claims are down 5% versus year-ago levels.
Economists consider the four-week average a better indicator of the labor market because it smoothes out one-time events like holidays, weather and strikes.
The number of workers continuing to claim jobless benefits dropped off by 33,000 in the week ending Dec. 2, to 2.47 million. It's the lowest since Nov. 18.
Continuing claims are down 4.5% compared to last year.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims, however, rose to its highest level since early September. It climbed by 9,250 to 2.47 million.
Initial claims were lower than the 320,000 economists were expecting.
Initial claims for the week ending Dec. 2 were unrevised at 324,000.
