The US Department of Labor reported this morning that seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims were 388,000 In the week ending Dec. 25. That is a decrease of 34,000 from last week’s revised number of 422,000. This is the lowest weekly figure since July 2008. More importantly, the four-week average was 414,000, a decrease of 12,500 from last week’s average of 426,500.
This time of year shows heavy adjustments. For example, the non-seasonally adjusted number was 521K. So, we can’t read too much into one week’s number. However, the comparisons to last year’s numbers demonstrate that the pace of weekly job losses has declined significantly. The employment market remains week but is improved. The steady improvement in the jobless claims numbers is supportive of the technical recovery into 2011.