U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Moderately in Feb. 24 Week
Summary
- Initial claims up 13,000; maintain tight range
- Continuing claims also up moderately; 4-week average rises to 26-month high.
- Insured unemployment rate maintains tight 1.2%-1.3% range.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 215,000 (-2.7% y/y) in the week ended February 24 from 202,000 the prior week; that earlier amount was revised slightly from 201,000 reported before. The latest amount was slightly more than the Action Economics Forecast Survey estimate of 209,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims was 212,500 through the February 24 week, down from 215,500 through the previous week.
Insured unemployment, also known as continued weeks claimed, was 1.905 million in the week ended February 17, up 45,000 from the prior week’s 1.860 million. The four-week moving average was 1,879,750 through the February 17 week, up from 1,877,000 the week before. The tiny increase in the latest four-week average brought it to the highest since early December 2021.
The insured unemployment rate rose to 1.3% in the February 17 week from 1.2% the week before. This rate, the number of continuing claims as a percentage of covered employment, has hovered between 1.2% and 1.3% since last July, August and September, when it eased to 1.1% in several weeks.
Insured unemployment rate varies widely across individual states. In the week ended February 10, the highest rates were in New Jersey (2.80%), Rhode Island (2.69%), Minnesota (2.48%), Massachusetts (2.37%) and California (2.32%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.39%), Virginia (0.42%), Kansas (0.43%), North Carolina (0.44%) and Tennessee (0.47%). Rates in other major states include Illinois (2.26%), Pennsylvania (2.03%, New York (2.02%), Ohio (1.09%) and Texas (1.05%). These state rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment claims are from the Department of Labor itself, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They go back to 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.
Carol Stone, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Carol Stone, CBE came to Haver Analytics in 2003 following more than 35 years as a financial market economist at major Wall Street financial institutions, most especially Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities. She has broad experience in analysis and forecasting of flow-of-funds accounts, the federal budget and Federal Reserve operations. At Nomura Securites, among other duties, she developed various indicator forecasting tools and edited a daily global publication produced in London and New York for readers in Tokyo. At Haver Analytics, Carol is a member of the Research Department, aiding database managers with research and documentation efforts, as well as posting commentary on select economic reports. In addition, she conducts Ways-of-the-World, a blog on economic issues for an Episcopal-Church-affiliated website, The Geranium Farm. During her career, Carol served as an officer of the Money Marketeers and the Downtown Economists Club. She has a PhD from NYU's Stern School of Business. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a weekend home on Long Island.
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