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Economy in Brief

Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Up Modestly
by Tom Moeller December 8, 2005

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 6,000 to 327,000 last week following a revised 16,000 drop the prior week. Consensus expectations had been for 315,000 claims.

Hurricane related claims dropped to 8,000 and brought the total of the three storms during the last fourteen weeks to 600,000.

The four-week moving average of initial claims was about unchanged at 322,500 (-4.8% y/y).

Continuing unemployment insurance claims fell 137,000 following a 57,000 decline the prior week which was deeper than initially reported.

The insured rate of unemployment fell to 2.0% from a downwardly revised 2.1% the prior week.

Monetary Policy with Imperfect Knowledge, a working paper from economists at the Federal Reserve board, is available here.

Can Financial Innovation Help to Explain the Reduced Volatility of Economic Activity? is another working paper published by the Federal Reserve Board and can be found here.
Unemployment Insurance (000s) 12/03/05 11/26/05 Y/Y 2004 2003 2002
Initial Claims 327 321 -6.3% 343 402 404
Continuing Claims -- 2,603 -5.9% 2,926 3,531 3,570
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