The U.S. Department of Labor released the weekly jobless claims a day early this week due to the New Year holiday. Initial unemployment claims last week were recorded at 298,000, which was an increase of 17,000. The reading also blew out the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 286,000 claims. The previous week’s reading was revised up by 1,000 to 281,000 claims.
The four-week moving average increased by 250 to 290,750 claims. The previous reading was revised upward by 250 also, to 290,500. This continues a streak of the four-week moving average for initial claims staying below the 300,000 level, which has not been seen since 2000.
The Labor Department said that there were no special factors that had an impact on this past week’s reported initial claims.
Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, decreased by 53,000 to 2.35 million. The previous level was revised to 2.40 million.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8% for the week that ended December 20.
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