WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing initial claims for regular state unemployment benefits fell by 50,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 352,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, hitting the lowest level since April 2008.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected claims to fall by 19,000 to 380,000 in the week ended Jan. 14. For the week ended Jan. 7, claims were revised to 402,000 from an originally reported 399,000.
The decline was the largest in a single week since Sept. 24, 2005, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, a closely watched number regarded as less volatile than the headline figure, decreased last week by 3,500 to 379,000.
A Labor Department official said Thursday that “volatility is fairly common this time of year,” and noted that several states estimated data due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
US stock futures held on to solid gains following the data, as the US dollar and Treasury prices ticked lower.