Number of Americans seeking jobless benefits drops

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week and a trend gauge was down to a near five-year low, signalling that a weak recovery in the labour market continued.

According to other reports many top US retailers registered robust sales in January even though higher taxes hit customers, and business was down in the fourth quarter.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by around 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000, according to the US Labour Department, which was enough to see a four-week moving average of new claims, a gauge of the trend in layoffs, down 2,250 to 350,500, its lowest since March 2008.

According to economists the labour market was improving but certainly not at a robust rate by any means.

While employers cut layoffs, job additions have happened only at a sluggish pace and according to economists, the torpid labour market recovery meant the Federal Reserve would keep buying bonds into next year to keep US borrowing costs low.

In a sign of the difficulty that many people still had in finding a job, the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programmes after an initial week of aid was up 8,000 to 3.22 million in the week ended 26 January.