U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Jump in Latest Week
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Initial claims match highest level since the June 8 week.
- Continuing claims surge to three-year high.
- Insured unemployment rate holds steady.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance climbed to 243,000 during the week ended July 13 from a six-week low of 223,000 during the prior week, revised from 222,000. First-time claims have been trending higher since a low of 194,000 in the second week of January. The latest week’s figure compares to 230,000 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The four-week moving average of initial claims rose to 234,750 from the prior week’s 233,750 average. It was increased from a low of 200,750 in early-January.
Insured unemployment, also known as continuing claims, jumped to 1.867 million in the week ended July 6 from 1.847 million in the prior week, revised from 1.852 million. It was increased from a low of 1.339 million in early-June of 2022. The four-week moving average rose to 1.851 from 1.839 million.
The insured unemployment rate remained at 1.2% in the week of July 6. This figure is the number of continued weeks claimed as a percent of covered employment. It’s been steady at that level since the week of March 11, 2023 when it was higher than a low of 1.0% in November of 2022.
Economic conditions vary widely across individual states and territories, as shown by the insured unemployment rates. In the week ended June 29, the highest rates were in New Jersey (2.55%), Rhode Island (2.17%), California (2.13%), Minnesota (2.02%) and Puerto Rico (1.96%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.26%), Kansas (0.37%), Florida (0.40%, Kentucky (0.41%), Virginia (0.44%) and North Carolina (0.45%). Other notable states include Ohio (0.76%), Texas (1.09), Illinois (1.56%), New York (1.60%) and Pennsylvania (1.78%).
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.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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