Recent Updates
- Germany: Construction Orders, Employment, & Turnover (Feb), IAB Labor Market Barometer, IFO Business Climate Survey (Apr)
- France: Registered Unemployment & Vacancies (Mar)
- Saudi Arabia: WPI (Mar); Israel: Person-Nights in Tourist Hotels (Mar)
- Norway: Earnings (2017)
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Economy in Brief
U.S. New Home Sales and Prices Strengthen
Sales of new single-family homes during March increased 4.0% (8.8% y/y) to 694,000 (SAAR)...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Strengthen
The FHFA index of U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during February...
U.S. Energy Prices Rise Further
Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.80 per gallon last week (14.3% y/y)...
Italian Confidence Backtracks But Remains High-Valued As It Is for France and Germany
From Q1 2008 to date, Italian GDP actually has failed to grow and has declined by 5.8%...
U.S. Existing Home Sales & Prices Rise Again
The NAR reported that sales of existing homes increased 1.1% during March (-1.2% y/y) to 5.600 million units (AR)...
by Carol Stone August 11, 2011
Initial unemployment insurance claims fell last week to 395,000, the first
reading below the key 400,000 level since April 2. The July 30 week
was revised to 402,000 from& 400,000. Consensus expectations had been
for 400,000 initial claims for last week. The four-week moving average edged
down to 405,000.
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance declined in their latest reading, reaching 3.688M in the July 30 week, the lowest since mid-April. The insured unemployment rate decreased to 2.9% versus 3.0%. These claimants, however, were only about half of the total number of people currently receiving unemployment insurance. Regular extended benefits, with eligibility dependent on conditions in individual states, rose about 10,000 to 543,513 during the week ending July 23 (the latest figure available); this is, however, 25.0% below a year ago. According to the Labor Department, the extended benefits were available in 32 states and the District of Columbia. A companion program, Emergency Unemployment Compensation, referred to as EUC 2008, saw 3.158M beneficiaries that week, down from 3.185M the week before and 23.8% less than a year ago.
A grand total of all claimants for unemployment insurance includes the extended and emergency programs and specialized programs covering recently discharged veterans, federal employees and those in state-run "work share" programs. All together, during the July 23rd week, these recipients totaled 7.480M, which is down 20.7% y/y.
Data on weekly unemployment insurance programs are contained in Haver's WEEKLY database, including the seasonal factor series, and they are summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states, including the unemployment rates that determine individual state eligibility for the extended benefits programs and specific "tiers" of the emergency program, are in REGIONW, a database of weekly data for states and various regional divisions. Action Economics estimates are in AS1REPNA.
Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 8/06/11 | 7/30/11 | 7/23/11 | Y/Y % | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 395 | 402 | 401 | -17.4 | 459 | 574 | 418 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 3,688 | 3,748 | -17.6 | 4,544 | 5,807 | 3,338 |
Insured Unemployment Rate(%) | -- | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.5 (8/7) |
3.6 | 4.4 | 2.5 |
Total "All Programs" (NSA) | -- | -- | 7.480 | -20.7 | 9.850M | 9.163M | 3.903M |