According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending October 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 521,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 554,000. The 4-week moving average was 539,750, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 548,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.5% for the week ending September 26, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 4.6%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 26 was 6,040,000, a decrease of 72,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 6,112,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,144,250, a decrease of 15,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 6,160,000.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.677 million.