U.S. unemployment claims dip

In the week ending Jan. 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims in the U.S. was 470,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised figure. The four-week moving average was 456,250, an increase of 9,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Jan. 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 16 was 4.602 million, a decrease of 57,000 from the preceding week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was 4,669,250, a decrease of 94,250 from the preceding week’s revised average.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.404 million.