WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell from a five-month high last week, pointing to labor strength that underscores the economy's sustained momentum.þþInitial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000 for the week ended Dec. 3, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were unrevised.þþIt was the 92nd straight week that claims were below 300,000, a threshold which is associated with a healthy labor market. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.þþEconomists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 258,000 in the latest week. Claims hit a 43-year low in mid-November.þþEconomists had dismissed the recent back-to-back increases in filings, which had pushed claims to a five-month high, as an aberration. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of different timings of the Thanksgiving holiday.þþþþþþA Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week's data and that no states had been estimated. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 1,000 to 252,500 last week.þþThe labor market is near full employment, with the government reporting last week that the unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low of 4.6 percent in November amid solid increases in nonfarm payrolls.þþA tight labor market together with signs of a strengthening economy and steadily rising inflation will likely push theþþFederal Reserve to hike interest rates at its Dec. 13-14 policy meeting. The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate last December for the first time in nearly a decade.þþThursday's claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 79,000 to 2.01 million in the week ended Nov. 26. That followed two straight weekly increases.þþThe four-week average of the so-called continuing claims slipped 9,500 to 2.03 million.þþ(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)þ
Source: NY Times
