Fewer people were filing initial claims for unemployment insurance at the end of last year, another positive sign that the economy is turning around.
According to the most recent Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report from the Department of Labor, initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped (-15,000) to 372,000 during the week ending Dec. 31, 2011.
According to a report by Bloomberg:
The decrease in firings indicates employers may be getting more comfortable with their headcounts and their economic outlooks as the year begins. Economists forecast a Labor Department report tomorrow will show hiring picked up and joblessness held below 9 percent in December.
In the week ending December 24, we saw the insured unemployment rate drop to 2.8 percent (-.1 percent), and the number for insured unemployment fall to 3,595,000 (-22,000). The previous week, a total of 2,932,561 people claimed Emergency Unemployment Compensation (+6,426).
Georgia was the only state that saw a decrease in initial claims of more than 1,000 in the week ending December 17, as fewer layoffs in the construction, service, and manufacturing industries caused the state’s claims to fall by 1,105.
During that same week, layoffs in the service industry caused California to see the highest increase in initial claims (+16,490), while Alaska reported the highest insured unemployment rate (6.5 percent).
