Initial Claims Up 4,000; Continuing Claims at 10-Month High

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose last week, following an erratic up-and-down pattern for the past several months, while continuing claims rose to their highest level since February, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

For the week ending December 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims rose to 230,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average also rose to 230,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate rose to 1.2 percent for the week ending November 26, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 26 rose to 1,671,000, an increase of 62,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The four-week moving average rose to 1,582,250, an increase of 43,250 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 286,436 in the week ending December 3, an increase of 87,113 (43.7 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 82,393 (or 41.3 percent) from the previous week. Labor reported 283,935 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate rose to 1.1 percent during the week ending November 26, an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted level of insured unemployment in state programs totaled 1,562,591, an increase of 300,930 (23.9 percent) from the preceding week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 242,998 (19.3 percent) from the previous week. A year earlier the rate was 1.5 percent; volume was 1,965,797.

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 19 fell to 1,284,024, a decrease of 83,896 from the previous week. Labor reported 1,947,630 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.