According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending January 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 444,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 433,000. The 4-week moving average was 440,750, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 449,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% for the week ending January 2, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.6%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 2 was 4,596,000, a decrease of 211,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,807,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,855,000, a decrease of 151,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,006,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.448 million.