The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment decreased slightly last week.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 3,000 to 787,000 for the week ended January 2.

Economists had expected 800,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 790,000 from the initial estimate of 787,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims fell to 818,750 from an upwardly revised 837,500 in the previous week.

Continuing claims declined to 5,072,000 from a downwardly revised 5,198,000 in the previous week.