Weekly jobless claims hold steady
More modest progress on the employment front, as initial jobless claims were unchanged at 505,000 for the week ending November 14, but continuing claims decreased again, falling 39,000 to 5.61 million, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.
A Bloomberg News economists survey had expected initial jobless claims to fall to 504,000 this week. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for initial jobless claims decreased 6,500 to 514,000.
A year ago, initial jobless claims totaled 533,000 and continuing claims totaled 4.02 million.
