According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending May 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 623,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 636,000. The 4-week moving average was 626,750, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 629,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 5.1% for the week ending May 16, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 5.0%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 16 was 6,788,000, an increase of 110,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,678,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,608,250, an increase of 123,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,484,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.131 million.