Initial Jobless Claims Plunge 35,000 for Week

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment benefits fell by 35,000 last week to 291,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The decline led to a jobless level that was below the 320,000 predicted by economists, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell to 316,750 from 326,000 a week earlier, Labor said.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Dec. 24 rose to 2.718 million, from 2.705 million a week prior to that.