Jobless Claims Off 10,000 to 258,000 in Dec. 3 Week

WASHINGTON – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 to a level of 258,000 in the Dec. 3 week, slightly ahead of the 255,000 level expected, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.

Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a rebound of 46.6%, or 116,454, in unadjusted claims in the current week after a dip in the Thanksgiving week. Unadjusted claims came up a little short, rising 103,157 to 352,931. The current week's unadjusted level was still below the 384,491 level in the comparable week a year ago.

The Labor Department said there were no special factors in this week's claims data and no state claims were estimated.

The four-week moving average for initial claims rose by only 1,000 to 252,500 in the Dec. 3 week. If the headline number of claims does not change next week and there are no revisions, the average will rise by 6,250 as the decades-low of 233,000 in the November 12 week rolls out of the calculation.

The level of continuing claims fell by 79,000 to 2.005 million in the Nov. 26 week after a 41,000 increase in the previous week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims for the Nov. 26 week surged by 323,254 to 2.069 million. This level was well below the 2.299 million level seen in the comparable week a year ago.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate fell to 1.4% in the Nov. 26 week from 1.5% in the previous week and 1.6% a year earlier.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.
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