More than 700,000 U.S. workers file new unemployment claims

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- More than 700,000 U.S. workers have filed for new unemployment benefits, the Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday.

The report listed 709,000 new claims for the week ending Nov. 7, a decrease of 48,000 from the previous week. It listed the unemployment rate at 4.6%, a decline of a third of a point.

Thursday's report also revised up last week's claims by 6,000.

The jobless figure slightly beat expectations. Most economists expected about 730,000 new claims.

The department said there are about 6.8 million continuing claims, which lag initial claims by a week.

Thursday's is the first unemployment report since the department said a week ago that the U.S. economy added about 640,000 jobs during the month of October, and the first since former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The Federal Reserve also decided last week to leave key interest rates near zero, a measure to aid the economy that continues to deal with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.