U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Edged Up in February 15 Week
Summary
- Initial claims hold in a tight range.
- Total beneficiaries rose slightly in the February 8 week.
- Insured unemployment rate remains at 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 219,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended February 15, up from 214,000 the week before; that was marginally revised from 213,000 initially reported by the Labor Department. The Action Economics forecast survey had expected initial claims to be 215,000. The four-week moving average of initial claims was 215,250, down marginally from 216,250 the prior week.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries – also known as “continuing claims “– was 1.869 million in the week ended February 8, up from 1.845 million the previous week. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1.862 million in the week ended February 8, down from 1.870 million in the February 1 week.
The insured unemployment rate was still 1.2% seasonally adjusted in the week ended February 8; 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 2023.
Economic conditions vary widely among individual states. So, in the week ended February 1, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey and Rhode Island (both 2.91%), Minnesota (2.55%), Washington (2.39%), Massachusetts (2.38%), California (2.37%), and Illinois (2.32%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.34%), Virginia and Alabama (both 0.45%), and Tennessee and North Carolina (both 0.57%). Rates in other notable states include Pennsylvania (2.04%), New York (1.94%), Connecticut (1.91%), and Texas (1.05%). 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.
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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