US initial jobless claims rise to 4,80,000

The count of claims for unemployment benefits in the US climbed to 4,80,000 for the week ended December 12, even as the labour market slowly comes out of the shadow of the financial crisis.

According to the US Labor Department data, the initial claims have risen by 7,000 from the previous week's 4,73,000.

"The four-week moving average was 4,67,500, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 4,72,750," it said in a statement today.

Going by the statistics, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits too went up by 5,000 to 51,86,000 for the week ended December 5.

In the previous week, the same stood at 51,81,000.

"The four-week moving average was 53,18,250, a decrease of 1,06,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 54,25,000," the statement noted.

Signalling that employment conditions are improving, the country's jobless rate fell to 10 per cent in November. In the previous month, the same had touched a 26-year-high of 10.2 per cent.