Fewer people in the U.S. applied for jobless benefits last week, the latest sign that the economic recovery is getting stronger.
{mosads}The number of Americans applying for benefits dropped to 280,000, a drop of 9,000 from the previous week. The four-week average, a more stable snapshot of the job market, also fell, from 298,750 to 290,250.
Those drops illustrate the firmer footing of an economy that added 321,000 jobs in November. The Commerce Department also reported Tuesday that the economy grew at a 5 percent clip in this year’s third quarter, significantly faster than the government first thought.
The jobless claims figures have also been fairly stable for much of the final part of 2014, inching above 300,000 only once since early September.