Jobless Claims Decline by 15,000 to Lowest Level in a Month

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in a month for the week ended Jan. 4, the Labor Department reported.

Claims fell 15,000 to 330,000, lower than the 335,000 average estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“The economy’s mending,” Michael Hanson, U.S. senior economist at Bank of America Corp., said to Bloomberg. “We’re making progress.”

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 349,000 from 358,750 the previous week.

The number of people receiving continuing jobless benefits increased by 50,000 to 2.87 million in the week ended Dec. 28, the Labor Department said in its Jan. 9 report.

A Jan. 8 report from ADP Employer Services showed U.S. companies boosted payrolls by the most since November 2012.

The Jan. 10 unemployment report from the Labor Department is expected to show total payrolls increased 196,000 last month, bringing the total for the year to 2.27 million, the most since 2005, according to Bloomberg.