The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits for the week of Jan. 22 declined on a weekly basis for the first time in 2022, according to the Labor Department on Jan. 27. Jobless claims dropped to 260,000, following three weeks of increases amid a surge in Omicron cases. This was 30,000 fewer from the week prior and lower than the 265,000 that analysts had earlier predicted. Economists had initially estimated that unemployment claims would decline by 21,000 to 265,000 for the week. The Labor Department said that insured unemployment was at 1,675,000 for the week ending on Jan. 15, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week’s revised levels. The four-week average of claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, rose by 15,000 to 247,000, the highest in two months. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in the December jobs report, a steady decline from nearly 15 percent in …