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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Another 900,000 Americans have filed first-time unemployment insurance claims for the week ending Jan. 16, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The most recent figure is a decrease of 39,000 claims from the previous week’s revised level of 926,000, but still remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. Initial weekly claims hovered around 200,000 in January and February of last year.
The four-week moving average increased by 23,500 claims to 848,000 for the week ending Jan. 16. Continuing claims — for which data lags a week — totaled just under 5.1 million for the week ending Jan. 9. The number is a 127,000-claim decrease from the week ending Jan. 2.