First-time jobless claims rose the week before Christmas following a month of declines, the federal government reported.
There were 381,000 initial claims for the week ending Dec. 24, up 15,000 from a revised figure of 366,000 for the previous week. However, the 4-week moving average was 375,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the 380,750 the previous week.
Initial claims for last week are down 23,000 from the same week last year. The nation’s unemployment rate has seen a steady decline over the last year, from 9.6 percent in November 2010 to 8.6 percent last month.
