2017.12.1409:34:00UTC+00U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Drop To 225,000

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased in the week ended December 9th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 225,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 236,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 239,000.

The less volatile four-week moving average also fell to 234,750, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 241,500.

The Labor Department said claims taking procedures continue to be disrupted in the Virgin Islands, while the claims taking process in Puerto Rico has still not returned to normal.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 27,000 to 1.886 million in the week ended December 2nd.

Meanwhile, the report said the four-week moving average of continuing claims rose to 1,918,500, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,914,000.

The Labor Department released a separate report last Friday showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of November.

The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 228,000 jobs in November after surging up by a revised 244,000 jobs in October.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 261,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate came in at 4.1 percent in November, unchanged from October and in line with economist estimates.