· Initial claims for
unemployment insurance fell last week to 432,000 from 445,000 during the
prior week. Consensus expectations had envisioned a slightly smaller
decrease. Claims for both last week and the week before were
revised downward marginally. The four-week moving average
increased to 444,750 (39.3% y/y).
· Continuing claims for unemployment insurance edged down 17,000 during the latest week, after increasing 77,000 the week before, which also reflects a slight downward revision. The total number of recipients was 3,362,000; this represented 2.5% of covered employment.
· This
report included data for a second week of the recently enacted
"Emergency Unemployment Compensation" program, a federally
funded effort targeting people who have exhausted all other unemployment
insurance programs. There were 1,284,252 recipients in the week
ended August 2, following 713,968 the prior week. Thus, while the
regular state programs showed some reductions among newer beneficiaries,
this supplemental program has obviously found a reservoir of necessitous
individuals who have been unemployed for quite some time. This is
about the same magnitude so far as the number of beneficiaries of a
similar temporary program initiated in 2002.