The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week but remained near a seven-month high, raising a concern that momentum in the jobs market could be easing early in the year.
Initial jobless claims decreased by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 307,000 in the week ended Jan. 17, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 300,000 new claims.
The prior week’s figure was revised up to 317,000 claims from an initially reported 316,000. Claims for the Jan. 10 week were the highest since last June. New claims were above 300,000 in each of the last three weeks, the longest such streak since July.
