U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Dropped in the Week of October 17
Summary
- New claims declined by 6,000 to 194,000 in the week of October 17.
- Continuing claims rose by 25,000 to 1.728 million in the week ending October 10.
- The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.1% in the week of October 10.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped by 6,000 to 194,000 in the week ending October 17 from 200,000 in the week ending October 10, revised from 199,000. This is the lowest level since the July 18 week and suggests a relatively stable labor market. The four-week average was 197,750 in the October 17 week, down from 198,750 in the October 10 week, revised from 198,500. The Action Economics/Haver Analytics Survey looked for 200,000 claims to have been filed.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”—rose 25,000 to 1.728 million in the week ending October 10, up from 1.703 million in the week ending October 3, revised from 1.710 million. This is the highest level since the August 29 week. The four-week moving average was 1.711 million in the October 10 week, up from 1.707 million in the October 3 week. The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.1% in the October 10 week, where it has held since the week of August 29.
The insured unemployment rate varies greatly across individual states and territories. In the week ending October 3, no state had an insured unemployment rate above 2.00%; the highest was in New Jersey (1.98%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.20%), Louisiana (0.29%), Florida (0.31%), Alabama and North Dakota (both 0.33%), North Carolina (0.35%), Arkansas (0.36%), Iowa and Tennessee (both 0.41%), Kentucky and Nebraska (both 0.43%), Kansas and Wyoming (both 0.44%), Idaho (0.45%), New Hampshire (0.47%), Georgia (0.48%), and Mississippi, Virginia and Wisconsin (all 0.49%). Rates in other notable states include Texas (0.89%), Pennsylvania (1.18%), Illinois (1.26%), New York (1.37%) and California (1.67%). These state data are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment claims are from the Department of Labor itself, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They begin in 1967 and are contained in Haver’s WEEKLY database and summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW back to December 1986.
Kathleen Stephansen, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Kathleen Stephansen is a Senior Economist for Haver Analytics and an Independent Trustee for the EQAT/VIP/1290 Trust Funds, encompassing the US mutual funds sponsored by the Equitable Life Insurance Company. She is a former Chief Economist of Huawei Technologies USA, Senior Economic Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, Chief Economist of the American International Group (AIG) and AIG Asset Management’s Senior Strategist and Global Head of Sovereign Research. Prior to joining AIG in 2010, Kathleen held various positions as Chief Economist or Head of Global Research at Aladdin Capital Holdings, Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities Corporation.
Kathleen serves on the boards of the Global Interdependence Center (GIC), as Vice-Chair of the GIC College of Central Bankers, is the Treasurer for Economists for Peace and Security (EPS) and is a former board member of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE). She is a member of Chatham House and the Economic Club of New York. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the Universite Catholique de Louvain and graduate degrees in economics from the University of New Hampshire (MA) and the London School of Economics (PhD abd).
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