11.01.202413:22:00UTC+00U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Edge Down To 202,000

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower in the week ended January 6th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 202,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 203,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 210,000 from the 202,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the modest decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 200,000 in the week ended October 14th.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 207,750, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 208,000.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment benefits, also fell by 34,000 to 1.834 million in the week ended December 30th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also dipped to 1,862,250, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,870,250.

A more closely watched report released by the Labor Department last Friday s showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of December.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 216,000 jobs in December compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 170,000 jobs.

At the same time, the report also showed notable downward revisions to the pace of job growth in October and November.

The increases in employment in October and November were downwardly revised to 105,000 jobs and 173,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 71,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 3.7 percent in December, unchanged from November. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to inch up to 3.8 percent.