It was the third straight weekly decline in claims.Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 240,000 in the latest week. Last week marked the 144th straight week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is associated with a strong labor market. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller.The labor market is near full employment, with the jobless rate at a 17-year low of 4.1%. Labor market tightness is seen encouraging the Fed to hike interest rates at the Dec. 12-13 policy meeting. Employers have announced 386,347 job cuts through November, down 22% compared to the same period last year and the lowest since 1997.

Source: The Star December 07, 2017 14:03 UTC