Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial unemployment claims went back up again during the week ending Jan. 7 to 399,000 after weeks of dropping, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
That number is close to the critical 400,000 mark. However, analysts were not concerned about the higher numbers because the increase in claims could just be seasonal, rather than a trend. They say it is common for employers to hire extra help for the holidays and then shed workers in the first few weeks of the year.
The less volatile four-week moving average was also up. It increased by 7,750 claims to 381,750 from 374,000 the previous week. Despite the increase, the four-week moving average figures over the past month have been at their lowest levels since 2008.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Dec. 24, the latest week for which such data is available, was 7,333,213, an increase of 111,010 from the prior week.
The states with the highest rate of increase in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 31 were:
- Michigan (+10,364)
- Wisconsin (+10,203)
- Pennsylvania (+8,135)
- New Jersey (+7,989)
- New York (+7,746)
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