The US four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance was 270,750 last week, up 1,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by the US Department of Labor.

The four-week moving average decreases the volatility of the weekly numbers. Total initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended Dec. 5 were 282,000, up 13,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level.

No special factors affected this week’s initial claims.

Bloomberg reported claims reached the highest level since July 4 and exceeded the median forecast in its survey of 43 economists, which projected 270,000 claims.

“This is a time of the year when weekly readings can be volatile, due to a string of holidays and turn-of-the-year churn in the labor market,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Conn., said in a note to clients, according to Bloomberg. “As the November employment report confirmed, the labor market continues to steam ahead toward full employment with a historically low pace of layoffs.”