(fxcue news) - With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected decline by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 26th. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 216,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 228,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 230,000 from the 227,000 originally reported for the previous week. With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting a matching figure in the week ended May 18th. "Claims in some states impacted by Hurricane Helene continued to retreat from their recent highs, although claims in Florida remained elevated, likely a result of Hurricane Milton," said Grace Zwemmer, Associate Economist at Oxford Economics. She added, "With the latest week's decline, claims are in line with pre-hurricane levels and consistent with a labor market that continues to be characterized by few layoffs." The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also dipped to 236,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 238,750. Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell by 26,000 to 1.862 million in the week ended October 19th. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims rose to 1,869,250, an increase of 10,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,858,500. The increase lifted the four-week moving average of continuing claims to its highest level since hitting 1,928,000 in November 2021. On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on the employment situation in the month of October. Economists currently expect employment to rise by 113,000 jobs in October after jumping by 254,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.1 percent.