WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 to 216,000 in the December 22 week, slightly above expectations for a 215,000 level but following an upward revision to the previous week's level, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
A better measure for the underlying trend of the data is the four-week moving average for initial claims. The average fell by 4,750 to 218,000 in the December 22 week.
If the number of headline claims does not change next week and there are no revisions to data from the past four weeks, the four-week average would fall by 4,250 as the 233,000 level in the November 24 week rolls out of the calculation. The data suggest a return to level seen prior to elevated levels seen throughout November.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected an increase of 12.3%, or 31,492 in unadjusted claims, the beginning of an annual pattern that runs through early-January. Unadjusted claims actually posted a smaller increase of 11.7%, or 29,985, to 285,180. The current week's level was well below the 324,958 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The level of continuing claims fell by 4,000 to 1.701 million in the December 15 survey week, also down 4,000 from the 1.705 million level in the November 17 employment survey week.
Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims rose by 34,598 to 1.757 million, but remained well below the 1.986 million level seen in the comparable week last year.
The four-week average for continuing claims, which tends to be a more reliable measure as continuing claims consistently fluctuate week-to-week, fell by 1,000 to 1.676 million.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at 1.2% in the December 15 week, down from 1.4% in the same week a year earlier, reinforcing that the level of insured unemployment is extremely low.
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.
