The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment report on Thursday. It showed about 242,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on December 7th. Here is the official Labor Department statement:
In the week ending December 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 242,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 224,000 to 225,000.The4-week movingaveragewas 224,250, an increase of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 218,250 to 218,500.