U.S. weekly jobless claims rise slightly; third-quarter GDP revised higher

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3 minute read | December 22, 2022 8:45 AM EST | Last Updated 15 min ago

U.S. weekly jobless claims rise slightly; third-quarter GDP revised higher

Reuters

WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week, pointing to a still tight labor market, while the economy rebounded faster than previously estimated in the third quarter.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000 for the week ended Dec. 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 222,000 claims for the latest week.

Claims have swung up and down in recent weeks, but have remained below the 270,000 threshold, which economists said would raise a red flag for the labor market. A raft of layoffs in the technology sector and interest-rate sensitive industries like housing have not had a material impact on claims.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week said "it feels like we have a structural labor shortage out there." ... Labor market resilience is keeping the U.S. central bank on its aggressive policy tightening campaign, with the Fed last week projecting at least an additional 75 basis points of increases in borrowing costs by the end of 2023. It has hiked its policy rate by 425 basis points this year from near zero to a 4.25%-4.50% range, the highest since late 2007.

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[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20222360.pdf

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, December 22, 2022

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 216,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 211,000 to 214,000. The 4-week moving average was 221,750, a decrease of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 227,250 to 228,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending December 10, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 10 was 1,672,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 7,000 from 1,671,000 to 1,678,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,657,250, an increase of 30,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,750 from 1,625,250 to 1,627,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

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The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 3 was 1,537,044, a decrease of 49,110 from the previous week. There were 2,138,003 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

{snip the rest of the ten-page news release, until the end}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

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U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 22-2360-NAT

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