U.S. jobless claims fall 9,000 to 397,000

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)
The number of Americans who filed new applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in six weeks, government data showed Thursday, but the small decline suggested little change in a sluggish U.S. labor market.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped 9,000 to 397,000 in the week ended Oct. 29.
Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 406,000 from an original reading of 402,000.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected new claims to fall to 400,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks, seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends, fell by 2,000 to 404,500.
The level of weekly claims has hovered near the 400,000 mark for the past five months, reflecting slow progress for a U.S. economy still struggling to throw off shackles imposed during the 2007-09 recession.
The economy isn’t even adding enough jobs to keep up with natural growth in the labor force — never mind put millions of unemployed Americans back to work.
The government on Friday is expected to post the latest figures on monthly job growth. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch project the U.S. gained a net 90,000 jobs in October.
The U.S. probably needs to add at least 250,000 jobs a month over an extended period to ratchet down the unemployment rate, economists say.
The unemployment rate is projected to hold steady at 9.1%, with little prospect of a sharp decline. The Federal Reserve, for example, said on Wednesday it expects the jobless rate to remain at or above 8.5% through 2012. Read more on Federal Reserve meeting.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans who continue to receive regular state unemployment checks declined by 10,500 to 3.70 million in the week ended Oct 22.
Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
About 6.78 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended Oct. 15, up 103,117 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag.
The federal government provides extended compensation to millions of Americans whose state benefits have already been exhausted. Benefits in most states last six months