WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) — The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid fell to 234,000, echoing a stable job market.
In the week ending Feb. 4, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 234,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.
The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility decreased 3,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average to 244,250, the lowest level since Nov. 3, 1973.
Meanwhile, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 28 rose 15,000 from the previous week to 2,078,000.
The U.S. private sector added 246,000 jobs in January, the second highest level in a year, said the National Employment Report released jointly by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Moody’s Analytics, based on a monthly survey last week.
