The initial jobless applications fell 43,000 to 444,000 for the week ended February 6. The number is encouraging in the sense that it shows filings dropped by their largest amount since July, giving impetus to the optimists’ view of labor market beginning to nursing back to health.

Those collecting benefits for more than one week - continuing claims as are called, dipped by 79,000 to reach 4,538, 000 ending January 30, its lowest level in more than a year.

Last Friday, the US Labour Department showed an expected drop in unemployment rate to 9.7 per cent in January. The increase was largely attributed to hiring of temporary workers and sharp increase in the number of people giving up looking for work.

After the number, the Council of Economic Advisors said the Obama administration will generate about 100,000 jobs a month this year. The think-tank also said that they expect a tepid job growth this year and unemployment rate to fall below 8.2 percent by 2015.