US jobless claims drop to 457,000

The number of claims for unemployment benefits in the US declined by 5,000 to 457,000 for the week ended November 28, indicating that tough labour market conditions may be slowly easing.

In the previous week, the count of such claims stood at 462,000.

"The four-week moving average was 481,250, a decrease of 14,250 from the previous week's revised average of 495,500," the US Labor Department said in a statement today.

However, the number of people receiving jobless benefits shot up by 28,000 to 5,465,000 for the week ended November 21. In the earlier week, the same stood at 5,437,000.

According to the statement, the four-week moving average was 5,541,500, a decrease of 75,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,617,250.

Many companies have resorted to huge layoffs to cope with the worsening financial situation, as part of their efforts to bring down costs.

Reflecting the gloomy American job market scenario, the unemployment rate shot up to a 26-year-high of 10.2 per cent in October. The count of jobless people are expected to rise in the coming months before the economy fully stabilises.