Good News? Weekly Jobless Claims See a Decrease

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 37,000 for the week ending January 12, bringing the total to 335,000, down from last week’s revised figure of 372,000, the Labor Department announced on Thursday.

The four-week moving average, a “less volatile” figure, decreased by 6,750, bringing the total to 359,250, up from last week’s revised average of 366,000.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent for the week ending January 5, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate,” the report states.

“The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 5 was 3,214,000, an increase of 87,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,127,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,195,750, a decrease of 6,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,201,750,” the report adds.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 5 were New York (+37,189), Georgia (+15,354), North Carolina (+13,606), California (+8,691), and Texas (+8,669).

Meanwhile, Michigan (-12,536), New Jersey (-5,530), Oregon (-5,471), Ohio (-4,915), and Kentucky (4,257) posted the biggest decreases in initial claims.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Front page photo courtesy Getty Images