Jobless claims fall again, near lowest level in decades

Published: Dec 24, 2015 8:32 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in the week before Christmas fell slightly to keep initial claims near the lowest level in decades.

Initial claims dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000 in the period running from Dec. 13 to Dec. 19, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to total 270,000.

A more reliable measure, the average of initial claims over the past month, rose by 1,750 to 272,500. But it’s still near a 15-year low.

The average number of jobless claims in each week of 2015 is on track to fall to the lowest level since 1973, the result of unusually low layoffs and steady pace of hiring. New claims have averaged 278,000 each week so far this year.

There is one big caveat, though: The number of people who want but can’t find a full-time job remains elevated by historical standards. The more than six-year-old recovery — the slowest in modern times — has left more people out in the cold than in prior upturns.

Meanwhile, some 2.2 million people collected weekly unemployment checks in the seven days ended Dec. 12. These so-called continuing claims were 47,000 lower compared to the prior week.