U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Rose in the Week of October 10
Summary
- New claims rose by 1,000 to 199,000 in the week of October 10.
- Continuing claims fell by 4,000 to 1.710 million in the week ending October 3.
- The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.1% in the week of October 3.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance edged up 1,000 to 199,000 in the week ending October 10, from 198,000 in the week ending October 3, revised from 197,000. The Action Economics/Haver Analytics Survey looked for 200,000 claims to have been filed. The four-week moving average was 198,500 in the October 10 week, up from 198,250 in the October 3 week, revised from 198,000.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”—fell by 4,000 to 1.710 million in the week ending October 3, from 1.714 million in the week of September 26, revised down from 1.716 million. The four-week moving average was 1.709 million in the October 3 week versus 1.711 million in the prior week. The insured unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.1% in the week of October 3.
In the week ending September 26, no state had an insured unemployment rate above 2.00%; the highest was in New Jersey (1.99%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.21%), Louisiana (0.29%), Florida (0.32%), Alabama (0.33%), North Carolina and North Dakota (both 0.35%), Arkansas (0.38%), Kentucky (0.41%), Iowa and Tennessee (both 0.42%), Kansas (0.43%), Nebraska (0.45%), Idaho and Wyoming (both 0.46%), Georgia and New Hampshire (both 0.48%), and Virginia (0.49%). Among other notable states, the rate was 0.96% in Texas, 1.20% in Pennsylvania, 1.32% in Illinois, 1.42% in New York, and 1.73% 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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