US / Unemployment Benefits / An increase of 10,000: two out of three employment-related reports were positive

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 372,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 362,000. The 4-week moving average was 360,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week’s revised average of 359,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending December 22, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 22 was 3,245,000, an increase of 44,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,201,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,224,250, an increase of 6,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,217,750.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via ETA Press Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report.

Layoffs Have Slowed, Hiring Has Picked Up, But Jobless Claims Are Higher : The Two-Way

There were 372,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, up by 10,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration says. What’s more, that previous week’s total was revised up from the previous estimate of 350,000.

The relatively negative news about jobless claims means that two out of this morning’s three employment-related reporters were positive. As we reported earlier, the ADP National Employment Report showed a much larger than expected gain of 215,000 jobs in private sector payrolls last month. Also, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that the number of layoffs announced in 2012 was the lowest for any year since 1997.

Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release the week’s big employment report. It will tell us what the unemployment rate was in December and how many jobs were added to payrolls last month.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from 

via Layoffs Have Slowed, Hiring Has Picked Up, But Jobless Claims Are Higher : The Two-Way : NPR.