Jobless Claims Drop Slightly in Nov.

The number of recently laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped by more than expected in the second to last week of November.

The Labor Department announced Wednesday that the number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 35,000 to 466,000. That was the lowest level for initial claims since the week of Sept. 13, 2008, and was far better than the 500,000 that economists had expected.

After losing an astonishing seven million jobs in the past two years, companies nationwide may have little margin to cut further without threatening their capacity to ramp up production as the economy recovers.

To date, numbers show that the government may report next week that employers in November shed the lowest number of jobs in 20 months.

The U.S. Labor Department released the numbers a day earlier than usual due to tomorrow’s Thanksgiving holiday.

The rising claims numbers do not include the number of Americans to date receiving extended benefits under federal programs. Wednesday’s released calculations show the number of people who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting extended payments fell by 18,253 to 4.18 million in the week ended Nov. 7.

President Obama on Nov. 6 signed into law a plan to extend jobless benefits, giving the unemployed as many as 20 additional weeks of assistance. Through the extra assistance, forty-nine states and territories have reported a decrease in claims, while four reported an increase.

The unemployment rate hit a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and many economists believe the recovery remains at a sluggish rate due in part to the jobless rate, which continues to rise. Economists believe the rate may top 10.5 percent by the middle of the 2010 summer.