About 780,000 U.S. workers file new unemployment claims

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- About 780,000 workers in the United States have filed for new jobless benefits, the Labor Department said Thursday in its weekly unemployment snapshot.

The department said 779,000 new claims were filed for the week ending Jan. 30, a decrease of about 33,000 from the previous week.

The national unemployment rate for the week was 3.2%, it noted.

The number of new claims is the lowest since November and marks the third straight week new claims have declined. Most experts predicted about 830,000.

There are about 4.6 million continuing claims, which lag new filings by a week.

Thursday's figures came a day before the department will release its January labor report, which most analysts expect to show a growth of about 100,000 jobs.

A private assessment by ADP and Moody's Analytics on Wednesday reported 174,000 new jobs in the month of January.