First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower in the week ended December 6th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 294,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 297,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 295,000.
Despite the modest drop in jobless claims, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average inched up to 299,250, an increase of 250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 299,000.
With the increase, the four-week moving average climbed further off the fourteen-year low of 279,000 set in the week ended November 1st.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also jumped to 2.514 million in the week ended November 29th from the preceding week's revised level of 2.372 million.
The sharp increase lifted continuing claims to their highest level since reaching 2.528 million in the week ended August 16th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose to 2,385,500, an increase of 27,750 from the previous week's revised average of 2,357,750.
Peter Boockvar, managing director at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, claims are still at a healthy level even though they've lifted a touch off the 14-year lows seen in October."
"With respect to potential job losses in the oil patch as cap ex budgets get cut aggressively, nothing has showed up yet in the data," he added. "Construction actually was the industry cited for increases in claims."
Last Friday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing that U.S. employment jumped by much more than anticipated in the month of November.
The report said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 321,000 jobs in November compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 230,000 jobs.
The Labor Department also said the job gains in September and October were upwardly revised to 271,000 and 243,000, respectively, reflecting a net upward revision of 44,000 jobs.
Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate in November was unchanged from the previous month at 5.8 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
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.