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Economy in Brief
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Improve Modestly
The FIBER Industrial Materials Price Index increased 0.9% during the four weeks ended April 9...
EMU Retail Sales Jump, Regaining Some of the January Drop
February finds EU retail sales and motor vehicle registration rebounding...
U.S. PPI Posts Broad-Based Strength in March
The Producer Price Index for final demand jumped 1.0% (4.2% y/y) during March...
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Monetary Policy Blunder: Not Managing Economic & Financial Outcomes Equally
Monetary Policy at a Crossroad: Policymakers Need to Break Promise of Easy Money to Avoid Boom-Bust
State Coincident Indexes in January
Data Surprises, Markets and COVID
by Winnie Tapasanun September 5, 2019
Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending August 31 increased 1,000 to 217,000 (3.3% y/y), a three-week high, from 216,000 in the prior week which was upwardly revised from 215,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 215,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose to 216,250 from 214,750.
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance fell 39,000 to 1.662 million (-3.0% y/y) in the week ending August 24 from 1.701 million in the prior week, upwardly revised from 1.698 million. The four-week moving average of claimants declined to 1.692 million from 1.698 million.
The insured rate of unemployment for the week ending August 24 remained at the record low 1.2%, where it has been since May 2018. Data on the insured unemployment rate go back to 1971.
Insured rates of unemployment vary widely by state. During the week ending August 17, the lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.25%), Nebraska (0.32%), Indiana (0.44%), North Dakota (0.44%), and Utah (0.44%). The highest rates were in California (1.80%), Rhode Island (1.80%), Pennsylvania (1.98%), Connecticut (2.19%), and New Jersey (2.39%). Among the other largest states by population not mentioned above, the rate was 1.02% in Texas, 0.51% in Florida, and 1.44% in New York. These state data are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment claims going back to 1967 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) | 08/31/19 | 08/24/19 | 08/17/19 | Y/Y % | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 217 | 216 | 211 | 3.3 | 220 | 244 | 262 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 1,662 | 1,701 | -3.0 | 1,756 | 1,961 | 2,135 |
Insured Unemployment Rate (%) | -- | 1.2 | 1.2 |
1.2 |
1.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 |