U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Inched Down in the Week of September 5
Summary
- New claims edged down by 1,000 to 206,000 in the week of September 5.
- Continuing claims inched down by 1,000 to 1.774 million in the week ending August 29.
- The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2% in the week of August 29.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance edged down by 1,000 to 206,000 in the week ending September 5, from 207,000 in the week ending August 29, revised marginally from 206,000. The four-week average was 206,000 as well in the September 5 week, down from 207,500 in the August 29 week. Claims remain largely range-bound at historically low levels between 200,000 and 230,000. The Action Economics/Haver Analytics Survey looked for 205,000 claims to have been filed.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”— inched down by 1,000 to 1.774 million in the week ending August 29, from 1.775 million in the week of August 22, revised down from 1.779 million. The four-week moving average was 1.779 million in the August 29 week versus 1.781 million in the prior week. The insured unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.2% in the week of August 29.
The insured unemployment rate varies greatly across individual states and territories. In the week ending August 22, the highest unemployment rates were in Massachusetts (2.09%), Rhode Island (2.18%), Puerto Rico (2.57%), and New Jersey (2.62%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.22%), Florida (0.34%), Alabama and Louisiana (both 0.36%), North Carolina (0.38%), Arkansas (0.43%), Nebraska (0.45%), Iowa (0.46%), Kentucky (0.47%), Kansas (0.48%), Tennessee (0.47%), and North Dakota and Wyoming (both 0.49%). Rates in other notable states include Texas (1.04%), Illinois (1.47%), Pennsylvania (1.60%), New York (1.74%) and California (1.82%). 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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