U.S. Initial Claims Rise the Highest Since September amid Rising Coronavirus Cases

U.S. initial claims for the week ending December 12 were 885,000, a rise of 23,000 from the previous week, and above expected 817,000 according to the Department of Labor press release. The total number of continuing claims for the week ended December 5 was 5.5 million lower than the expected 5.7 million.

• The previous week’s initial claims were revised up by 9,000 from 853,000 to 862,000
• The 4-week moving average was 812,500, up 34,250 from the previous week’s revised average 
• Unadjusted actual initial claims under state programs were 935,138 in the week ending December 12, a decrease of 2.2% or 21,335 from the previous week

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