The number of people seeking initial unemployment benefits fell sharply for a fourth consecutive week, pointing to steady improvement in the labor market, the U.S. government reported Thursday. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell 29,000 last week to 343,000, the lowest in two months and the second-lowest weekly total this year. The four-week moving average of jobless claims, considered a better measure of labor-market trends, fell 27,000 to 381,500, the lowest level since early November. Last week's decline left new jobless claims at their lowest since early October and well below the levels just before superstorm Sandy, which hit the east coast in late October and triggered several weeks of volatile claims numbers. The storm had little effect on overall hiring in November, when employers added 146,000 jobs, the government reported last week. That is about the same as the average monthly gain of 150,000 the past year.
