U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Edged Up in Latest Week
Summary
- Initial claims rose in latest week.
- Continuing claims declined.
- Insured unemployment rate holds steady.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 8,000 to 237,000 during the week of August 30, from the prior week’s unrevised level of 229,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 230,000 initial claims for last week. The four-week moving average of initial claims increased to 231,000 from the unrevised level of 228,500 in the prior week. It has been the highest level since the first week of July.
In the week ended August 23, the total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries – also known as “continuing claims” – decreased by 4,000 to 1.940 million from 1.944 million in the week ending August 16, revised down from 1.954 million. The four-week moving average declined by 7,000 to 1.947 million in the week ending August 23 from 1.954, revised down from 1.956 million.
In the week ending August 23, the insured rate of unemployment (the number of beneficiaries as a percent of covered employment) was 1.3% for the thirteenth consecutive week.
The insured unemployment rate varied greatly across individual states and territories. In the week ended August 16, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.76%), Rhode Island (2.59%), Puerto Rico (2.29%), Massachusetts (2.22%), Minnesota (2.12%), Washington (2.07%), California (2.04%), and District of Columbia (2.01%). The lowest were in South Dakota (0.26%), Florida (0.39%), and Alabama and North Carolina (both 0.46%). Rates in other notable states include Pennsylvania (1.90%), New York (1.73%), Illinois (1.71%), and Texas (1.25%). 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. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics Forecast Survey in the AS1REPNA database.
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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