U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Rose Modestly in June 1 Week
Summary
- Initial jobless claims inched up 8,000 in the June 1 week.
- Continued weeks claims were very steady, with flat trend.
- The insured unemployment rate is unchanged since March 2023.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 229,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended June 1, up 8,000 from the prior week, when they reached 221,000, revised from 219,000. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey for the latest week were 220,000. The four-week moving average for the actual data in the latest week was 222,250, down slightly from 223,000 the prior week. Over the last year, the number of initial claims has ranged from 194,000 to 258,000.
The amount of insured unemployment, also known as continued weeks claimed, was 1.792 million in the week ended May 25, up marginally from 1.790 million in the week ended May 18; that earlier amount was revised from 1.791 million reported before. The four-week moving average through the May 25 week was 1.789 million. Over the last year, the weekly amount of insured unemployment has hovered between 1.710 million and 1.829 million.
The insured unemployment rate, that is, the amount of insured unemployment as a percent of covered employment, was 1.2% yet again in the May 25 week. This percentage has held continuously since the week ended March 11, 2023.
The rates of insured unemployment vary widely across individual states and territories. In the week ended May 18, the highest rates were in New Jersey (2.27%), California (2.14%), Washington (1.75%), Rhode Island (1.63%), Massachusetts (1.59%), Illinois and New York (each1.54%), and Nevada (1.51%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.27%), Kansas (0.34%), Florida (0.37%), Kentucky (0.40%), Virginia (0.42%) and North Carolina (0.43%). Rates in other prominent states include Pennsylvania (1.45%), Texas (1.05%), and Ohio (0.70%). These state rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment claims are from the Department of Labor, 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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