U.S. Jobless Claims Suggest Labor Market Is Stabilizing

ByJohn S. McClenahen Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 355,000 last week, some 13,000 fewer than the revised figure of 368,000 for the week ending Nov. 23, says the U.S. Labor Department's Employment & Training Administration. Last week was the second consecutive week that jobless claims remained substantially below the 400,000 mark, an indication that the U.S. labor market is stabilizing. The department's four-week moving average also declined last week, falling to 376,000, down 10,500 from the previous week's revised average of 387,000. The most recent data show 3.468 million people receiving unemployment insurance during the week ending Nov. 23, a decrease of 123,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 3.609 million.