More good news in employment: Initial jobless claims plunge to 466,000

Initial jobless claims plummeted 35,000 to 466,000 for the week ending Nov. 21, and continuing claims continued to decline as well, falling 190,000 to 5.42 million, the U.S. Labor Department announced Wednesday. This marks the lowest initial jobless claims total in more than a year.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected initial jobless claims to fall to 495,000. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for initial jobless claims also dropped, falling 16,500 to 496,500. A year ago, initial jobless claims totaled 520,000 and continuing claims totaled 4.02 million.