Recent Updates
- US: Public Debt (Feb), Mfrs' Shipments Inventories & Orders (Jan), Productivity & Costs with Revisions (Q4)
- Global Sector PMIs (Feb)
- Canada: Labor Productivity & Unit Labor Cost (Q4)
- Philippines: Int'l Reserves & Foreign Currency Liquidity (Jan)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Just 9,000
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly by 9,000 to 745,000 in the week ended February 27...
U.S. Productivity's Decline Lessened in Q4'20; Reverses Q3 Increase
Revisions to nonfarm business sector productivity indicated a 4.2% decline during Q4'20...
EMU Unemployment Rate Steadies in January
The overall EMU unemployment rate was steady in January, off peak, but still elevated...
U.S. ADP Nonfarm Private Payroll Increase Disappoints in February
Job market strength moderated last month....
U.S. ISM Services Index Weakens in February
The ISM Composite Index of Services Activity declined to 55.3 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller May 19, 2005
Following three weeks of increase, initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 20,000 last week to 321,000 and the prior period's gain was little revised. Consensus expectations had been for 330,000 claims.
The latest figure covers the survey period for May nonfarm payrolls and claims are up 22,000 (7.4%) from the April period.
During the last ten years there has been a (negative) 75% correlation between the level of initial claims for unemployment insurance and the monthly change in payroll employment. There has been a (negative) 65% correlation with the level of continuing claims.
The four week moving average of initial claims rose to 329,750 (-2.6% y/y).
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose 5,000 and the prior week's gain was little revised.
The insured unemployment rate held at 2.0% for the fourth consecutive weeks.
This morning's speech titled Government-sponsored enterprises by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan can be found here.
Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 05/14/05 | 05/07/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 321 | 341 | -8.0% | 343 | 402 | 404 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 2,601 | -11.7% | 2,926 | 3,531 | 3,570 |