U.S. Jobless Claims Rebounded in The January 20 Week
Summary
- January 20 week’s initial claims up 25,000.
- Continuing claims up 27,000 in January 13 week.
- Insured unemployment rate steady at 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 25,000 in the week ended January 20 to 214,000, seasonally adjusted, from 189,000 the prior week; that earlier amount was revised slightly from 187,000 initially reported. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected the January 20 amount to have reached 200,000. In the latest week, the four-week moving average of initial claims was 202,250, down slightly from 203,750 in the prior week.
The amount of insured unemployment – also known as continuing claims or continued weeks claimed – was 1.833 million, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended January 13, up from an unrevised level of 1.806 million the week before.
In the January 13 week, the insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2%. That rate is the number of continuing claims as a percentage of covered employment, which was 149.9 million.
Insured unemployment rates vary widely by states and territories. In the January 6 week, the highest rates were in New Jersey (2.74%), Rhode Island (2.63%), Minnesota (2.47%), California (2.39%), Massachusetts (2.33%) and Alaska (2.31%). The lowest rates were in Virginia (0.36%), Florida (0.39%), North Carolina (0.41%) and Kansas (0.46%). Other major states’ rates include Texas and Ohio (each 1.13%), Connecticut (1.89%), New York (2.00%), Pennsylvania (2.02%) and Illinois (2.24%). 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 are 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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