• U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Down 25k

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In the week ending December 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 370,000, a decrease of 25,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 395,000 and down 3.4% from the same week a year ago. The 4-week moving average was 408,000, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 405,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending November 24, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 10 were in Alaska (5.7), New Jersey (3.9), Puerto Rico (3.6), Pennsylvania (3.3), Connecticut (3.1), Oregon (3.1), Nevada (2.9), Montana (2.8), and New York (2.8). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 24 were in Wisconsin (+5,876), Oregon (+2,328), Ohio (+2,252), Washington (+2,107), and Iowa (+1,262), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-23,966), California (-7,053), New York (-6,682), Texas (-6,425) and North Carolina (-2,609). Note: “Insured unemployment rate” refers to individuals who are unemployed and receiving UC benefits. Source: USDOL-BLS

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