Initial Claims Fall to 4-Month Low

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to their lowest level since September, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending December 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 211,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average fell to 227,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2 percent for the week ending December 3. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 3 rose to 1,671,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was 1,625,250, an increase of 43,250 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 248,881 in the week ending December 10, a decrease of 39,095 (-13.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 15,922 (-5.5 percent) from the previous week.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.0 percent during the week ending December 3, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,505,805, a decrease of 55,630 (-3.6 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 56,779 (-3.6 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.3 percent; volume was 1,734,628.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 26 rose to 1,586,144, an increase of 302,109 from the previous week. Labor reported 2,458,450 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.