U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Fall
Summary
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Initial claims down 20,000.
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Continued weeks claimed up just slightly.
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Insured unemployment rate steady, remains near record low.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 211,000 in the week ended December 10, down 20,000 from the prior week's 231,000, which was revised slightly from the original 230,000. The four-week moving average is 227,250, down from 230,250 in the December 3 week. These data are seasonally adjusted by the Labor Department.
In the December 3 week, the number of continued weeks claimed was 1.671 million, up just 1,000 from the prior week's 1.670 million; that was revised from 1.671 million. The four-week moving average was 1.625 million, up noticeably from the prior week's 1.582 million.
The insured rate of unemployment remained at 1.2% in the December 3 week. This compares with 1.1% in mid-November and is up from the record-low range of 0.9%-1.0% that prevailed during the middle months of 2022.
In the week ended November 26, the total number of continued weeks claimed for all unemployment insurance programs was 1.586 million, not seasonally adjusted, up 23.5% from the prior week but down 35.5% from a year ago. This total includes federal employees, newly discharged veterans, extended benefits and other specialized programs. Claims in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation are no longer included in the main Labor Department press release, as both programs have expired.
Data on weekly unemployment claims going back to 1967 are contained in Haver's WEEKLY database, and they are summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics Forecast Survey, carried 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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