U.S. initial jobless claims fall to 254,000

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid fell more than market expectation last week as the whole job market kept improving.

In the week ending Nov. 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 254,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

This is better than the market expectation of 260,000. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, increased 1,750 from the previous week's revised average to 259,750.

This marks 88 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, a benchmark for real job growth or loss in the economy, the longest streak since 1970, said the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Oct. 29 increased 18,000 from the previous week to 2,041,000.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 161,000 in October and the jobless rate edged down to 4.9 percent from September's 5 percent, close to the level of full employment, the Labor Department said last week.

The Labor Department also revised up job gains in September and August, making payroll growth have averaged 176,000 per month over the past three months. Endi