First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly saw another modest decrease in the week ended May 4th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with jobless claims falling to a new five-year low.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims edged down to 323,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 327,000.
The drop in jobless claims surprised economists, who had expected claims to climb to 335,000 from the 324,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 321,000 in the week ended January 19, 2008.
The reported also showed that the less volatile four-week moving average fell to 336,750 from the previous week's revised average of 343,000. The drop pulled the four-week moving average down to its lowest level since November of 2007.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell to a five-year low of 3.005 million in the week ended April 27th from the preceding week's revised level of 3,032,000.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims dipped to 3,034,250, a decrease of 24,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,058,750.
Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital, said the data "suggests that May is starting off on a stronger footing" but noted that it would be "more encouraging if all of the job measures started to point in that same direction."
Last Friday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing that U.S. employment rose by more than expected in the month of April, with the job growth pushing the unemployment rate down to a new four-year low.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment increased by 165,000 jobs in April compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 145,000 jobs. The report also showed notable upward revisions to the job growth in the two previous months.
With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate edged down to 7.5 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March. The unemployment rate had been expected to come in unchanged.
The unexpected decrease pulled the unemployment rate down to its lowest level since hitting 7.3 percent in December of 2008.
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Forex News
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.