WASHINGTON: New claims for US unemployment insurance dropped last week to a level last seen more than three years ago, government data showed Thursday in a sign of stabilization in the troubled jobs market.
Initial jobless claims fell by 19,000 in the week ending December 10 from the prior week, to 366,000, the Labor Department said.
The department upwardly revised the prior week's reading to 385,000 from a first estimate of 381,000.
Last week's claims were the lowest since the 366,000 reading in the week ending May 10, 2008.
The downward trend in weekly claims has signaled an improvement in the labor market, where the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent in November from 9.0 percent in October,
According to the Labor Department's four-week moving average, which helps to smooth volatility, initial jobless claims fell by 6,500 to 387,750 last week.
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