The Labor Department reports that first-time unemployment claims fell to a six-month low last week. During that period, 217,000 people filed new claims for unemployment insurance. 

Back in the summer and early fall, that number spiked as high as 260,000, said economist Tuan Nguyen at consulting firm RSM.

“Most of that was seasonal noise,” said Nguyen.

Noise in the data. A big Boeing strike and two major hurricanes also kept people out of work. 

But recently, he said, “The fact that new filings for jobless benefits have continued to drop is a welcome sign — especially when it comes to layoffs.”

Another sign comes from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas: “We’ve recorded a slowdown in job cut announcements from companies looking out into the future.”

The firm’s vice president, Andy Challenger, says employers want to get their up- and down-sizing decisions right.

“Companies never make headlines when they hire just the right amount of people. But they get a lot of headlines if they over-hire,” said Challenger.

And then they have to lay off a bunch of people later.