U.S. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Fall To One-Month Low

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - U.S. weekly initial jobless claims for insurance moved down by 21,000 to 509,000, during the week ending Nov. 29, according to the data released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

Last week, the weekly jobless claims decreased for the second consecutive time to the lowest since last month, following the claims reaching a 16-year high at 543,000.

The four-week average of initial jobless claims moved higher by 6,250 to 524,500 last week, compared to the claims at 518,250 the week prior, the report showed.

The four-week average, which smoothens out the weekly volatility, was at the highest level last week since December 1982.

The continuing number of individuals collecting regular state unemployment benefits moved up by 89,000 to a seasonally adjusted 4.09 million in the week ending Nov. 22, which was also at the 26-year high level.

The four-week average of continuing claims increased to 4 million, which is at the highest level since 1983., the report showed on Thursday.

Today's report showed that there were 49 states and territories reported a decrease in initial jobless claims. The rest four registered a decline in the unemployment claims for the Nov. 22 week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 22 were in California with 10,882, followed by Ohio (6,658) and Michigan (6,611). While, the largest decreases were reported in Nebraska with 72 and Utah by 37 in the same week.

The Labor Department report on Thursday showed the unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance, which tends to track the U.S. jobless rate, increased to 3.1 percent, which is the highest since 1992, from the previous rate of 3 percent.

In October, the unemployment rate increased to 6.5 percent, pushing up the total number of jobs cut by the firms in different sectors to 1.2 million jobs during the first ten months in 2008.

The Labor department is expected to report jobs losses in the month of November on Dec. 5, which the market analysts on Wall Street expect to drop by as much as 330,000. The analysts also expect the unemployment rate to surge to 6.8 percent.