MW: Weekly U.S. jobless claims fall 19,000 to 366,000
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits fell by 19,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 366,000, putting claims at the lowest level since May 2008. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 385,000 from 381,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had projected that claims would rise to 390,000 in the week ended Dec. 10. Jobless claims have fallen below 400,000 - a level historically associated with an improving labor market - in five of the past six weeks. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, fell by 6,500 to 387,750 to the lowest level since July 2008. The Labor Department said continuing claims rose by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.60 million in the week ended Dec. 3. About 7.45 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended Nov. 26, up 874,670 from the prior week.
