By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- The number of people filing initial claims for jobless benefits fell for the first time in three weeks last week, although it remained at a level unimaginable before the pandemic.
The Labor Department said that initial jobless claims fell to 712,000, from an upwardly revised 787,000 a week earlier. Analysts had expected a drop to 775,000.
The number of continuing claims, which comes in with a one-week lag, also fell by more than expected to 5.52 million from 6.09 million.
The numbers come a day after payrolls processor ADP said that private-sector hiring in the month through mid-November was relatively modest. Private payrolls grew by 307,000, well short of the 410,000 expected. The official government labor market report is due out on Friday and is expected to show a 469,000 increase in nonfarm employment and a jobless rate of 8.9%
Standard & Poor's said on Thursday that it only expects the number of U.S. jobless to return to its pre-pandemic level in 2023.
Separately, the Challenger Job Cuts survey suggested that the pace of layoffs across the U.S. fell to its slowest since the beginning of the health crisis this year, showing just under 65,000 job losses in November, compared to over 80,000 in October. The year-on-year comparison also improved to a rise of 'only' 65% from 80% in October.