Initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 267,000 (-8.4% y/y) during the week ended September 19 from an unrevised 264,000 during the prior week. The four week moving average of claims was little-changed at 271,750. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 271,000 initial claims in the latest week.

In the week ended September 12, continuing claims for unemployment insurance were little-changed w/w at 2.242 million (-8.4% y/y). The four-week moving average eased to 2.252 million and has been moving sideways since mid-July.

The insured rate of unemployment remained at 1.7%, near the lowest point since June 2000.

By state, the insured rate of unemployment continued to vary with South Dakota (0.27%), Indiana (0.73%), Virginia (0.74%), Florida (0.82%), South Carolina (0.85%) and Maine (0.85%) at the low end of the range. At the high end were Massachusetts (1.87%), California (2.07%), Connecticut (2.08%), Pennsylvania (2.18%), Alaska (2.20%) and New Jersey (2.66%). These data are not seasonally adjusted.

Data on weekly unemployment insurance are contained in Haver's WEEKLY database and they are summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics survey, carried in the AS1REPNA database.

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