The number of laid-off U.S. workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time declined last week to its lowest level since early November, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
The initial jobless claims fell to 280,000 for the week ending Dec. 20, down 9,000 from the previous week’s level. The four-week average was 290,250, which is 8,500 down from the previous week’s average.
Those numbers were lower than expected, according to Wall Street Journal. Economists the paper surveyed had predicted 290,000 in new claims.
The lower-than-expected jobless figure is the latest sign that the American economy is making sustained headway. It comes on the heels of Tuesday’s news that the economy grew at the fastest rate in the third quarter than in over a decade, which sent the Dow Jones industrial average closing above 18,000 for the first time.
