(fxcue news) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 16th. The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 213,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 219,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 217,000 originally reported for the previous week. With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 209,000 in the week ended April 27th. "We are entering a period when seasonal factors will make the data volatile, so we won't read much into one week's change in claims," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. She added, "Still, after being boosted by the Boeing strike and Hurricanes Helene and Milton, claims have returned to a level consistent with limited layoffs." The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 217,750, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average of 221,500. Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, climbed by 36,000 to 1.908 million in the week ended November 9th. The increase lifted continuing claims to their highest level since reaching 1.974 million in the week ended November 13, 2021. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also reached a nearly three-year high, inching up by 5,000 to 1,879,250. "Continued claims were still elevated in the state of Washington, likely a function of the Boeing strike, but we should see claims in that state decline in the weeks ahead," said Vanden Houten. "Claims were also relatively high in North Carolina, which was hard hit by Helene, and in Michigan and Ohio, where many autoworkers have been laid off," she added. "Claims in those states may be slower to decline."