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Economy in Brief
Italian Consumer Confidence Remains Hammered Down
Italy's consumer confidence fell month-to-month...
U.S. Current Account Deficit Deepens to Record in Q1'22
The U.S. current account deficit deepened to $291.4 billion during Q1'22...
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Declines Further in June But Remains Positive
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index fell to 12 in June...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Edged Down
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended June 18 declined by 2,000 to 229,000...
U.S. Energy Prices Reverse Earlier Gains
Retail gasoline prices surged to $5.01 per gallon (63.1% y/y)...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Gerald D. Cohen October 25, 2018
Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 215,000 (-8.1% y/y) during the week ended October 20 from an unrevised 210,000 in the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a reading of 213,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims was unhanged at 211,750.
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance decreased 5,000 to 1.636 million (-14.2% y/y) in the week ending October 13, from the slightly upwardly revised 1.641 million in the prior week. This is the lowest reading since August 1973 (this series goes back to 1967). The four-week moving average of claimants declined to 1,646,500, also a 55-year low. The previous week's reading was revised a touch higher.
The insured rate of unemployment declined to a new record low of 1.1% after remaining at 1.2% since early May. Data on the insured unemployment rate goes back to 1971.
Insured rates of unemployment vary widely by state. During the week ending October 6, the lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.20%), North Dakota (0.29%), Nebraska (0.36%), Indiana (0.41%), and Florida (0.44%). The highest rates were in Pennsylvania (1.42%), Connecticut (1.53%), California (1.59%), New Jersey (1.81%), and Alaska (1.83%). Among the other largest states by population, the rate was 1.14% in New York and 0.85% in Texas. These state 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 Forecast Survey, carried in the AS1REPNA database.
Unemployment Insurance (SA, 000s) | 10/20/18 | 10/13/18 | 10/06/18 | Y/Y % | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 215 | 210 | 215 | -8.1 | 245 | 263 | 278 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 1,636 | 1,641 | -14.2 | 1,961 | 2,136 | 2,267 |
Insured Unemployment Rate (%) | -- | 1.1 | 1.2 |
1.4 |
1.4 | 1.6 | 1.7 |