According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending December 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 480,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 473,000. The 4-week moving average was 467,500, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 472,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.9% for the week ending December 5, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.9%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 5 was 5,186,000, an increase of 5,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 5,181,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,318,250, a decrease of 106,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,425,000.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.722 million.