Initial claims for jobless benefits in the U.S. dropped in the latest week to reach the lowest level in two and a half years as boosting hopes for a stronger labor market in 2011, according to The Wall Street Journal. The weekly report from the Labor Department on new claims for unemployment benefits show a 34,000 drop in the week ending Dec. 25 to move to a seasonally adjusted level of 388,000, which is the lowest since July 2008. The fall also brought the four-week average of jobless claims to 414,000 from 426,500, after having hovered just below 450,000 since the beginning of November.
Economists saw the report as further evidence of a “pretty clear” positive trend, according to John Silvia of Wells Fargo, adding that the data “gives me a lot of hope and expectation for better job growth going forward.” However, the seasonal factors around the holiday report may have exaggerated the weekly improvement, which tempered economists’ upbeat response to the data. Analysts are anticipate that over 100,000 jobs were added in the U.S. during December, with the Labor Department set to announce the official figure on Jan. 7.