The Labour Department revealed in its weekly report on Thursday, that the number of U. S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits witnessed a fall last week by a reduced amount than what economists speculated.

Initial jobless claims squeezed by 8,000 to 470,000 in the week ended Jan. 23, surpassing expectations, from 478,000 the prior week, Labour Department figures revealed today in Washington. The net number of people grabbing unemployment insurance slipped to the lowest level in a year and those receiving extended benefits also fell.

Additionally, orders for long-lasting goods jumped by 0.3% in December much less than expected following a pair of declines, according to a report prompting manufacturing's recovery will be slow.

"We do expect the labour market to continue to improve going forward", Dean Maki, chief U. S. economist at Barclays Capital Inc., said before the report. "The trend in claims has been on a consistent downtrend and we do expect that to continue".

Manufacturers' orders for the durables boosted by 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted $167.91 billion, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had projected a 2.0% increase.

In accordance to the median forecast of economists surveyed before the Labour Department's Feb. 5 report on employment, the U. S. is hoped to have created 27,000 jobs in January. It would contribute to the second time in two years that payrolls have increased.