U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Claims Edge Higher
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
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Upward trend in claims is broken.
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Continued weeks claimed slip.
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Insured unemployment rate steadies.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 216,000 (-1.8% y/y) in the week ended December 17 from 214,000 in the prior week, revised from 211,000 reported last week. A reading of 225,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The four-week moving average of 222,000 was below a high of 250,000 early in August. These data are seasonally adjusted by the Labor Department.
In the week of December 10, the number of continued weeks claimed fell to 1.672 million (-12.2% y/y) from 1.678 million in the prior week, revised from 1.671 million. Continuing claims have been trending higher since a low of 1.346 million in mid-September. The four-week moving average was 1.657 million.
The insured rate of unemployment remained at 1.2% in the week of December 10. It has been at that level for three weeks and compares to 0.9% in late-September.
In the week ended December 3, the total number of continued weeks claimed for all unemployment insurance programs was 1.537 million (NSA), down 3.1% w/w and off 28.1% y/y. This total includes federal employees, newly discharged veterans, extended benefits and other specialized programs. Claims in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation are no longer included in the main Labor Department press release, as both programs have expired.
States with the highest insured unemployment rates were Alaska (2.25%), New Jersey (2.04%), California (1.96%), New York (1.57%) and Massachusetts (1.51%). States with the lowest rates were Alabama (0.22%), Kansas (0.29%), South Dakota (0.34%), Tennessee (0.38%) and Kentucky (0.41%). Insured unemployment rates in other states were Florida (0.44%), Texas (0.82%) and Pennsylvania (1.37%).
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.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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