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US jobless claims in decrease to 278 000

Washington - Applications for unemployment benefits in the US declined last week from a six-month high, indicating firings remain low following the volatility typically associated with post-holiday staff adjustments.

Jobless claims fell by 16 000 to 278 000 in the week ended January 23, from 294 000 in the prior period, a report from the Labour Department showed on Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 51 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 281 000.

While a shorter filing period due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and bad weather in some parts of the US probably influenced the weekly data, the recent trend shows employers are holding on to workers to meet demand.

Claims near four-decade lows are consistent with labor market improvement that the Federal Reserve cited on Wednesday after its meeting.

“The recent upturn in claims was just noise, not a change in the trend,” Jacob Oubina, senior US economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC in New York, said before the report. “Claims remain near all-time lows. The job market continues to be strong.”

Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 255 000 to 290 000. The previous week’s figure was initially reported as 293 000.

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