U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Ease 5,000 in August 31 Week
Summary
- Initial claims again somewhat less than forecast.
- Total beneficiaries down 22,000 in August 24 week.
- Insured unemployment rate still stands at 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 227,000 seasonally adjusted, in the week ended August 31, down 5,000 from the prior week’s 232,000; that was revised slightly from 231,000 reported before. The latest week’s 227,000 was somewhat less than the Action Economics Forecast Survey expectation of 232,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims was 230,000 in the August 31 week, down from 231,750 in the August 24 week.
The total number of Insured unemployment beneficiaries was 1,838,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended August 24, down from 1,860,000 the prior week; this number is also known as continuing claims. The earlier amount was revised down from 1,868,000 initially reported. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1,853,000 in the August 24 week, down from 1,861,250 through the August 17 week.
The insured unemployment rate, which is the total number of beneficiaries as a percent of covered employment, held at 1.2% in the August 24 week; that rate has indeed held at the amount continuously since March 11, 2023.
Economic conditions vary widely across states and territories. Gauged by the number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries as a percent of covered employment, in the week ended August 17, the highest insured unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.77%), Rhode Island (2.53%), Puerto Rico (2.33%), California (2.15%) and Minnesota (1.97%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.25%), Kansas (0.36%), Florida (0.41%), North Dakota, North Carolina and Kentucky (each 0.44%) and Virginia (0.45%). Rates in other notable states include Pennsylvania (1.80%), New York (1.76%), Texas (1.18%) and Ohio (0.77%). 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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