U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Decrease by 6,000 in March 29 Week
Summary
- Initial claims lower than forecast.
- Continuing claims increase more noticeably in March 22 week.
- Insured unemployment rate ticks up to 1.3%.
There were 219,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance seasonally adjusted in the week ended March 29, down from 225,000 the week before and somewhat less than the expected amount of 226,000 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The four-week moving average of initial claims was 223,000, down slightly from 224,250 in the week ended March 22.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries – also known as continuing claims – was 1.903 million in the week ended March 22, up noticeably from 1.847 million the week before. However, the four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1,870,500, up just slightly from 1,867,750 in the March 15 week.
The insured unemployment rate, that is, the number of beneficiaries as a percentage of covered employment rose to 1.3% in the March 22nd week, the first move from the 1.2% rate that had prevailed since January 2014.
Economic conditions do vary widely across states and territories. In the week ended March 15, the highest unemployment rates were in Rhode Island (2.77%), New Jersey (2.74%), California (2.37%), Minnesota (2.36%) and Massachusetts (2.34%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.34%), Alabama (0.42%), Virginia (0.47%), Tennessee (0.50%) and North Carolina (0.54%). Rates in other notable states include New York (1.89%), Pennsylvania (1.79%), Illinois (2.15%) and Texas (1.07%). 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 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.
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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