The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly by 24,000 last week, government data showed on Thursday, but the number of people remaining on jobless rolls rose to a fresh 26-year high.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 467,000 in the week ended January 3 from a slightly downwardly revised 491,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said.
It was the lowest reading for initial claims since the week ending October 11 last year, when the figure was at 463,000.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 540,000 new claims versus a previously reported figure of 492,000.
Continuing claims jumped to 4.611 million in the week ended December 27, the latest week for which the data is available, from 4.510 million the previous week. This was the highest reading since the week ending November 20 1982.
