Fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment insurance paymentslast week, showing the labor market is starting 2012 on betterfooting than a year earlier.

Applications for jobless benefits decreased 15,000 in the weekended Dec. 31 to 372,000, Labor Department figures showed today.The median estimate of 38 economists in a Bloomberg News surveyforecast 375,000 claims. The average over the past four weeksdeclined to the lowest level in more than three years.

The decrease in firings indicates employers may be getting morecomfortable with their headcounts and their economic outlooks asthe year begins. Economists forecast a Labor Department reporttomorrow will show hiring picked up and joblessness held below 9percent in December.