U.S. initial jobless claims fall to near 15-year low

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid fell sharply last week, echoing an improving job market.

In the week ending Jan. 24, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits decreased to 265,000, 43,000 less than the revised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.

That was the lowest level since April 2000 and better than the market expectation of 300,000 new claims.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims, said the department.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, edged down by 8,250 to 298,500 last week. The advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 17 decreased 71,000 from the previous week to 2,385,000.

U.S. economy adds 252,000 new jobs in December, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.6 percent, the lowest level since June 2008, the Labor Department said earlier this month.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 5 percent in the third quarter last year, according to the data of the U.S. Commerce Department. Endite