WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims were essentially unchanged for the week ending Jan. 2, increasing by 1,000 to 434,000, as continuing claims fell, the Labor Department reported today.
Continuing claims dropped by 179,000 to 4.802 million for the week ending Dec. 26, the lowest level since January 31, 2009.
Economists expected 447,000 initial claims and 4.980 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week ending Dec. 26 were revised slightly higher to 433,000 from 432,000 initially reported. Continuing claims were not revised from last week’s 4.981 million.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure, dropped to 450,250 from 460,500, in the week ending Dec. 26, its 17th consecutive weekly drop. The four-week average for continuing claims dropped for the 15th straight week, decreasing to 5.006 million from 5.101 million.
Initial claims in two states were estimated, a Labor Department official said. Alaska did not provide claims data for last week. California provided their own estimates for some days last week.
