The nation's job market continues to show signs of slow improvement.
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment insurance increased 2,000 to 439,000 in the week ended Nov. 13, the Labor Department said Thursday. But the four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure because it smooths out weekly gyrations, fell 4,000 to 443,000, the lowest level since the first week of September 2008.
This level of weekly initial claims is still indicative of a very weak job market. But the indicator has shown improvement in the past few weeks. Taken with another recent report that showed employers created 151,000 nonfarm jobs in October, the data show an economy that is slowly creating new jobs, though nowhere nearly fast enough to make a dent in the nation's 9.6% unemployment rate.
Thursday's report also showed that continuing claims, those drawn by workers for more than one week, declined 48,000 to 4,295,000 in the week ended Nov. 6, compared with the preceding week, the lowest level since Nov. 22, 2008.
In about two weeks, extended jobless benefits are set to expire for roughly two million Americans. On Thursday, the House of Representatives rejected for now a three-month extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed.
A separate report Thursday showed the economy was on track to continue its moderate expansion over the next few months. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its composite index of leading economic indicators rose 0.5% in October, the same gain as the prior month. Six of the 10 measures making up the index were positive, led by interest-rate spreads, stock prices and real money supply.
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