US unemployment applications drop to lowest since 2001

Number of applications for unemployment benefit fell for the first time by 15,000 to 355,000 for the week ended November 15, the US Labour Department has said.

The four-week moving average, which is a better gauge of the volatile numbers, fell by 9,000 to 367,250, the lowest figure since February 2001, it said.

The insured unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 2.8% for the week ended November 8 and the number of workers continuing to receive unemployment insurance rose 21,000 to 3.5 million in the same week.