13.12.201809:19:00UTC+00U.S. Jobless Claims Drop Much More Than Expected To 206,000

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by much more than anticipated in the week ended December 8th.

The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 206,000, a decrease of 27,000 from the previous week's revised level of 233,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 225,000 from the 231,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Jobless claims pulled back further off the nearly eight-month high reached two weeks ago to hit their lowest level in almost three months.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slid to 224,750, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average of 228,500.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 25,000 to 1.661 million in the week ended December 1st.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still edged down to 1,665,750, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,668,250.

Last Friday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing much weaker than expected job growth in the month of November.

The report said non-farm payroll employment rose by 155,000 jobs in November after surging up by a downwardly revised 237,000 jobs in October.

Economists had expected employment to climb by about 200,000 jobs compared to the jump of 250,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate in November remained unchanged for the second straight month at 3.7 percent, holding at its lowest level since hitting 3.5 percent in December of 1969.

Average hourly employee earnings rose by $0.06 to $27.35 in November, reflecting a 3.1 percent increase compared to the same month a year ago.