Despite analysts’ predictions, first-time filings for unemployment insurance fell last week to the lowest level in 17 months, CNNMoney.com reported.

The Labor Department today said that for the week ended Dec. 26 there were 432,000 initial jobless claims. That figure, which was down 22,000 from the previous week’s revised 454,000, is the lowest since July 2008.

“It’s consistent with a slow, steady improvement in the labor market, but it’s hard to translate this number into the nonfarm payroll number next week,” Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Corp. in Boston, told Reuters. “I think it gives you a better chance of having a positive number. The probability of a positive number is still low, but it’s a little bit higher.”

Economists surveyed by Reuters expected claims to jump to 460,000.

Continuing claims in the week ended Dec. 19, the most recent available data, were down 57,000 from the preceding week’s 5,038,000, bringing the four-week average for ongoing claims to 5,101,250.

In 10 states, unemployment claims fell by more than 1,000 for the week ended Dec. 19 and in 12 states the claims increased by more than 1,000. New York had the biggest jump in jobless claims that week, 1,155, which state officials said was due to layoffs in the construction, service and real estate industries.