U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Decline in Latest Week
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Decline in initial claims reverses earlier gain.
- Continuing claims move higher.
- State unemployment rates vary.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 12,643 during the week ended October 25 to 219,520 (+0.6% y/y) and mostly reversed the prior week’s increase to 232,163. The four-week moving average of initial claims eased to 226,766 from 227,953. They have trended higher this year, after weakening late in 2024. The four-week average hit a low of 200,323 in January 2024.
Federal government employees initially filed 9,435 jobless insurance claims last week after 10,062 in the prior week. These figures are increased from 588 at the end of September.
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose to 1.957 million (5.5% y/y) in the week ended October 18 from 1.947 million in the prior week. The four-week moving average rose to 1.940 million from 1.931 million. It was the highest level since the last week of August.
Federal government employees continuing benefits rose to 23,188 in the week ended October 18 from 14,472 in the prior week. These figures are increased from 8,680 at the end of September.
The insured unemployment rate varied greatly across individual states and territories. In the week ended October 18, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.14%), Washington (2.03%), California (1.93%), Massachusetts (1.84%), the District of Columbia (1.86%) and Connecticut (1.70%). The lowest were in South Dakota (0.25%), Florida (0.36%), North Carolina & Louisiana (0.41%), Nebraska (0.44%) and Virginia (0.49%). Rates in other notable states include New York (1.51%), Illinois (1.50%), Pennsylvania (1.39%), and Texas (1.11%). 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.
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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