Washington, DC, January 18, 2007--First-time applications for state unemployment benefits dropped by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 290,000 in the week ending Jan. 13, the lowest level in 11 months, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The four-week average of initial claims, considered a better gauge of underlying labor market strength because it smoothes out often-volatile data, dropped by 6,500 to 308,000, the lowest since October.
The number of people collecting unemployment checks rose by 120,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.53 million in the week ending Jan. 6. That's the highest in nearly a year. The four-week average of continuing claims rose by 4,000 to 2.47 million.
