U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Dropped in the Week of October 3
Summary
- New claims dropped by 2,000 to 197,000 in the week of October 3.
- Continuing claims rose by 17,000 to 1.716 million in the week ending September 26.
- The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.1% in the week of September 26.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped by 2,000 to 197,000 in the week ending October 3, from 199,000 in the week ending September 26, revised up from 197,000. The Action Economics/Haver Analytics Survey looked for 200,000 claims to have been filed. The four-week moving average was 198,000 in the October 3 week, down from 200,500 in the September 26 week, revised from 200,000.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”—rose by 17,000 to 1.716 million in the week ending September 26, from 1.699 million in the week of September 19, revised down from 1.701 million. The four-week moving average was 1.711 million in the September 26 week versus 1.723 million in the prior week. The insured unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.1% in the week of September 26.
In the week ending September 19, the highest insured unemployment rate was in New Jersey (2.02%), the only state above 2.00%. The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.20%), Louisiana (0.30%), Florida (0.31%), Alabama and North Dakota (both 0.34%), North Carolina (0.36%), Arkansas (0.39%), Iowa (0.42%), Kansas and Tennessee (both 0.43%), Kentucky and Nebraska (both 0.45%), Idaho and Wyoming (both 0.46%), New Hampshire (0.48%), and Georgia and Virginia (both 0.49%). Among other notable states, the rate was 0.97% in Texas, 1.21% in Pennsylvania, 1.30% in Illinois, 1.42% in New York, and 1.69% in California. 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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