Recent Updates
- Australia: Overseas Arrivals and Departures (Dec)
- Korea: Import & Export Price Indexes (Jan)
- Turkey: House Price Index (Dec)
- UK: Rightmove HPI (Feb), LSL/Acadata HPI (Jan)
- Albania: Trade by Commodity (Jan-Prelim)
- Namibia: Government Finance (Dec)
- Hungary: Foreign Currency Liquidity (Jan)
- Sweden: Securities Statistics (Jan)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Import Prices Continue Their Decline; Both Oil and Nonoil Prices Move Lower
Import prices fell a greater-than-expected 0.5% during January (-1.7% year-on-year)...
Empire State Manufacturing Activity Improves Modestly
The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions rose to 8.8 during February...
EMU-16 Trade Flows and Balance
EMU-wide exports ticked lower in December as imports were flat...
U.S. Retail Sales Exhibit Extensive Weakness
Total retail sales declined 1.2% (+2.3% y/y) during December...
U.S. Producer Prices Decline; Core PPI Rises
The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index edged down 0.1% for the second consecutive month in January (+2.0% y/y)...
by Tom Moeller November 13, 2008
The weakening job market pushed initial claims for jobless insurance above 500,000 for the first time since they were briefly there; late during the recession of 2001 and just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At 516,000, claims rose last week from an upwardly revised reading of 484,000 during the prior period. Expectations had been for 479,000 claims. The four-week moving average of initial claims rose to this cycle's high of 491,000 (48.0% y/y).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 1 were in Ohio (+3,885), Michigan (+2,619), Pennsylvania (+2,155), Wisconsin (+2,119), and Arizona (+1,692), while the largest decreases were in California (-3,603), Florida (-2,327), Nevada (-943), South Carolina (-824), and Indiana (-621).
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance during the week of November 1 rose another 65,000 after the prior week's 111,000 upward spurt. The four-week average of continuing claims rose to 3,794,000, this cycle's high and the highest since 1983. Continuing claims provide some indication of workers' ability to find employment and they lag the initial claims figures by one week.
The insured rate of unemployment rose to a new cycle high of 2.9%. The Commerce Department indicated that the highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending October 25 were in Puerto Rico (5.1 percent), Oregon (3.7), Nevada (3.6), Michigan (3.5), California (3.4), New Jersey (3.3), South Carolina (3.3), Pennsylvania (3.2), Arkansas (3.1), Alaska (3.0), and North Carolina (3.0).
Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 11/08/08 | 11/01/08 | 10/25/08 | Y/Y | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 516 | 484 | 485 | 52.7% | 322 | 313 | 331 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 3,897 | 3,832 | 50.6% | 2,552 | 2,459 | 2,662 |