Jobless Claims Back Above 400,000

Initial jobless claims rose above 400,000 for the first time in just over a month in the week ending Nov. 26, the Commerce Department announced. New claims for unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly to a seasonally adjusted 402,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 396,000.  The four-week moving average, a less volatile number that flattens out week-to-week fluctuations in the data, was 395,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week’s revised average of 395,250. The number of Americans filing for continuing unemployment claims during the week ending Nov. 19 was 3,740,000, an increase of 35,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,705,000. The four-week moving average was 3,683,250, an increase of 8,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 3,675,000. States reported 2,972,894 persons claiming emergency unemployment benefits for the week ending Nov. 12, an increase of 76,254 from the prior week . The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Nov. 12 was 7,005,495, an increase of 276,832 from the previous week. The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 19 were in California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington. The largest decreases were in Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.