Dec. 26 (UPI) — The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time dropped by 1,000 last week from the previous period, but those who made continuing claims reached a three-year high, according to statistics released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said that a seasonally adjusted 219,000 people made initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 21. That was the lowest number for first-time claims for unemployment insurance since the week ended Nov. 23m when 215,000 workers made initial applications.
The weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered representative by some of U.S. layoffs and are a snapshot of workforce stability, which is viewed by the Federal Reserve in its management of interest rates.
The four-week moving average for first-time filings reached 226,500, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week’s total.
The overall total of those filing for weekly unemployment benefits for the week ending Dec. 14, was 1.91 million people, an increase of 46,000 from the previous week’s total. It marked the largest jobless application filing since Nov. 13, 2021, when 1.974 million people made claims.
The four-week moving average for overall weekly applications reached 1.881 million, an increase of 3,250 from the previous week’s total.
Last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the third time this year in response to falling inflation, but it remains above its benchmark of 2%.