The data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday the number of
applications for unemployment declined as expected last week.
According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased
by 30,000 to 260,000 for the week ended January 22.
Economists had expected 260,000 new claims last week.
Claims for
the prior week were revised upwardly to 290,000 from the initial estimate of 286,000.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of jobless claims rose to 247,000
from an upwardly unrevised 232,000 (from 231,000) in the previous week. This represented
the highest number since late November 2021 (251,000).
As for continuing claims, they increased to 1,675,000 from a downwardly revised
1,624,000 (from 1,635,000) in the previous week. This was the highest count
since the week ended December 25, 2021.