Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States pushed towards near record highs with 586k people filing for benefits in the week ending Dec. 20, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.
Initial jobless claims were forecast to fall back to 558k. The higher-than-expected figure follows after the from the week-ending Dec. 5 when claims were 575k, the highest reading since Nov. 26, 1982. The all-time high for initial jobless claims is 695k, which was reached in October 1982.
The four-week moving average for initial claims remains above the half-million mark at 558k, up from 543,750 in the previous week.
Continuing claims fell to 4.370 million in the week ending Dec. 13, below than the consensus forecast for a reading of 4.410 million. This is the fifth week that continuing claims have been above the four million mark, and the 32ns straight week above three million.
The four-week moving average is now 4.226 million, up from the moving average of 4.320 million in the previous week. The all-time high for continuing claims is 4.713 million, recorded in November 1982.
Claims have recently been higher than normal following two new sets of rules introduced by the Department of Labor that made filing for unemployment benefits easier.
By Erik Kevin Franco and edited by Stephen Huebl
©CEP News Ltd. 2008