REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, in the latest sign of tightening labor market conditions. Other data on Thursday showed productivity growth slowed in the third quarter while compensation is steadily increasing without creating inflation pressures or weighing on profits.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 for the week ended Nov. 1, the Labor Department said. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell to its lowest level since April 2000.

"Companies appear increasingly unwilling to layoff labor, which speaks not only to the state of the economy but also, perhaps, to the difficulty in hiring replacement workers," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dipping to 285,000 last week. Claims have now been below the 300,000 threshold for eight straight weeks, suggesting that employment growth was gaining momentum.

The dollar extended gains versus the yen after the data, while prices for US Treasury debt dipped. A report on Wednesday showed private payrolls increased 230,000 in October, for a record seven straight months of job gains exceeding 200,000.

The government is expected to report on Friday that nonfarm payrolls advanced 231,000 last month after rising 248,000 in September, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The jobless rate is seen steady at a six-year low of 5.9 percent.

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