U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Ease in February 8 Week
Summary
- Initial claims hold tight range.
- Total beneficiaries decreased in February 1 week.
- Insured unemployment rate remains at 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 213,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended February 8, down from 220,000 the week before; that was marginally revised from 219,000 initially reported by the Labor Department. The Action Economics forecast survey had expected initial claims to be 220,000, that is almost the same as the prior week’s initially reported 219,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims was 216,000, down marginally from 217,000 through the prior week.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries – also known as “continuing claims “– was 1.85 million in the week ended February 1, down from 1.886 million the previous week, which was unrevised. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1,871.5 million through the February 1 week, down from 1,872.25 through January 25.
The insured unemployment rate was still 1.2% seasonally adjusted; this is the number of beneficiaries as a percentage of covered employment. Except for two separate weeks when this ratio was 1.3%, it has held at 1.2% since March 2013.
Economic conditions vary widely among individual states. So, in the week ended January 25, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey and Rhode Island (both 2.92%), Minnesota (2.56%), California (2.44%), Massachusetts (2.42%) and Illinois (2.41%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.36%), Virginia (0.45%), Alabama (0.48%), Tennessee (0.57%), and North Carolina (0.60%). Rates in other notable states include Pennsylvania (2.15%), Connecticut (2.05%), New York (1.96%) and Texas (1.15%). 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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