The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:



In the week ending Dec. 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 422,000. The 4-week moving average was 414,000, a decrease of 12,500 from the previous week's revised average of 426,500.

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This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week by 12,500 to 414,000.Even though weekly claims are seasonally adjusted, sometimes data for holiday weeks can be a little off.In general the four-week moving average has been declining and that is good news. If weekly unemployment claims remain below 400,000 that would suggest a better labor market.