Weekly Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level Since Jan. 2001

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he number of Americans filing for initial unemployment benefits fell by 43,000 to 348,000 during the week ended Nov. 1, the lowest level since January 2001, two months before the recession began, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The four-week moving average of benefit filings, a less volatile measure than the weekly total, fell to 380,000, the lowest since the week ended March 10, 2001, from 390,000 the week before.

Initial claims and the four-week average have been below the 400,000 level for five straight weeks. Economists have said that level is a divide between an improving and a deteriorating labor market.

A Labor spokesman said he could not point to any special factors to account for the big drop in claims, but said problems with seasonally adjusting the data could be a factor, Reuters reported.

Labor also said the number of people continuing to collect state unemployment benefits dropped by 22,000 to 3.511 million in the week ended Oct. 25.

Prior to this report, claims averaged 401,240 a week since the beginning of July, down from 419,270 in the first half of the year and a peak of 459,000 during the week ended April 19.