U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Pull Back Sharply Amid Holiday Volatility

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Pull Back Sharply Amid Holiday Volatility

Reflecting the volatility seen during the holiday season, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a steep drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended December 21st following the sharp jump seen earlier in the month.

The report said initial jobless claims tumbled to 338,000, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 380,000. Economists had expected claims to drop to 340,000 from the 379,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the notable decrease, jobless claims partly offset the jump seen in the first week of December, although claims remain well above the two-month low of 305,000 set in the week ended November 30th.

The Labor Department has previously warned that the numbers around the holidays will be volatile due to the difficulty of performing seasonal adjustments.

The less volatile four-week moving average edged up to 348,000, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week's revised average of 343,750.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed to 2.923 million in the week ended December 14th from the preceding week's revised level of 2.877 million.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims rose to 2,836,750, an increase of 39,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,797,250.

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