First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended November 2nd, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims slid to 211,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 219,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 215,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up 215,250, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 215,000.

The report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, edged down by 3,000 to 1.689 million in the week ended October 26th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims came in at 1,686,750, unchanged from the previous week's revised average.

Last Friday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing much stronger than expected U.S. job growth in the month of October.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 128,000 jobs in October compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 89,000 jobs.

The report also showed substantial upward revisions to job growth in September and August, with revised data showing employment jumped by 180,000 jobs and 219,000 jobs, respectively.

With the upward revisions, employment gains in September and August combined were 95,000 more than previously reported.

Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the report said the unemployment rate inched up to 3.6 percent in October from 3.5 percent in September. The uptick matched economist estimates.

The unemployment rate crept up from the nearly 50-year low hit in the previous month as a 325-person jump in the size of the labor force more than offset a 241,000-person increase in the household survey measure of employment.

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