Americans claiming state unemployment benefits decreased by 42,000 from a total of 338,000 based on a report of the U.S. Labor Department, while holiday retails sales rose in November and December, Thursday, December 26, according to The New York Times.
The decline is the lowest recorded data in nearly a month and is seen by some as a hopeful sign of an improving U.S. labor market, the report said.
The Thursday report ran contrary to recent holiday claims that data on unemployment this season is difficult to interpret.
"With labor markets on the mend and consumer confidence on the rise, we look for broader economic improvement to continue pushing claims (lower)," Gennadiy Goldberg, an analyst at TD Securities in New York, told the Times.
Data on new unemployment claim benefits have trended higher since September, but according to economists, that level is still consistent with the U.S.' overall job growth. Economists also argued that sound labor market indicators have been pointing them to a strengthening labor market, the report said.
"The underlying trend remains favorable," Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania, told the Times. "We will be able to muster stronger job growth in 2014."
The U.S. labor market is moving forward as consumer spending appeared to push the economy in the second half of this year. According to economists, they're expecting this momentum to be carried over into 2014.
According to MasterCard Advisors' data, the sales during the holiday season are growing as retailers used deeper discounts as well as promotions to attract customers, which are all positive signs.
Also earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Board announced that it would reduce its $85 million bond buying program by $10 million starting January, the report said.
For the months of October and November, it was reported that payrolls have solidly increased while unemployment rate dropped to a five-year low of 7.0 percent in November.
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