US jobless claims fall to 530,000

NEW YORK: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits in the US dropped by 1,000 to 530,000 in one week, indicating that the country's strained labor market is seeing recovery signs.

For the week ended October 24, the initial claims for jobless benefits declined to 530,000, according to the latest data from the US Labor Department.

The figure represents a fall of 1,000 as compared to 5,31,000 in the previous week.

"The 4-week moving average was 526,250, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 532,250," the Labor Department said in a statement today.

Going by the data, the insured unemployment rate slipped to 4.4 per cent for the week ended October 17 as compared to 4.5 per cent in the previous week.

Moreover, the count of Americans receiving jobless benefits slumped to 5,797,000 for the week ended October 17.

The numbers fell by 148,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 5,945,000.

"The 4-week moving average was 5,960,750, a decrease of 78,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 6,039,500," the statement added.

In the wake of the financial turmoil, many US companies resorted to massive job cuts and the unemployment rate had touched a 26-year-high of 9.8 per cent in September.