Initial jobless claims drop by 37,000

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday first-time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 37,000 last week, pushing back toward the 400,000 barrier.

Three weeks ago, initial claims fell under 400,000 for the first time since July 2008. This week, initial claims fell back to 404,000 after reaching 441,000 the prior week.

The four-week rolling average for the week ending Jan. 15, was 411,750, a drop of 4,000 from the previous week.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent in December, but the latest number reflected a negative trend with 260,000 long-term unemployed workers dropping out of the workforce, while only 103,000 found jobs.

The Labor Department said the biggest increases in claims for the week ending Jan. 8 were reported by New York 24,363 additional claims, California, which added 17,536, and North Carolina, which added 16,873.

For the week ending Jan. 8, the biggest decrease was reported by Oregon with a decline of 9,579, followed by Iowa with a decline of 3,122 and Michigan with a decline of 3,101.