Signalling easing labour market conditions, the number of Americans seeking jobless benefits dropped by 28,000 to 452,000 for the week ended December 19.
After being rattled by one of the worst financial turmoils, the US economy is on the recovery path and the pace of job cuts has come down in recent months.
The US Labor Department in a statement today said that initial claims for unemployment benefits declined to 452,000 for the week ended December 19. This is a fall of 28,000 as compared to 480,000 in the previous week.
"The four-week moving average was 465,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 468,000," the statement noted.
Further, the count of people receiving jobless benefits slid by 127,000 to 5,076,000 for the week ended December 12.
In the previous week, the same stood at 5,203,000.
"The four-week moving average was 5,233,000, a decrease of 90,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,323,000," it added.
The national unemployment rate slipped to 10 per cent in November from a 26-year high of 10.2 per cent in October. Millions of jobs have vanished in the past one year, as companies trimmed their workforce to bring down costs.
