US Weekly Jobless Claims Decline in the Week Ending December 30th

The US Department of Labor reported on Thursday (1-4-24) that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 202,000 during the week ending Saturday, December 30th. This is a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 220,000 (originally reported as 218,000). The 4-week moving average was 207,750—a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 212,500 (originally reported as 212,000).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, during the week ending December 23rd was 1,855,000. This is a decrease of 31,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,886,000 (originally reported as 1,875,000). The 4-week moving average was 1,867,000—a decrease of 250 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,867,250 (originally reported as 1,864,500).

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending December 23rd, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate.