U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Up Just 6,000 in Latest Week
Summary
- Jobless claims hold steady pattern.
- Continuing claims ease just 1,000 in Sept. 21 week.
- Insured unemployment rate holds at 1.2% for 18 months.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 225,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended September 28, up 6,000 from the prior week’s 219,000, which was revised marginally from 218,000 reported before. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected the latest figure to be 223,000. The four-week moving average was 224,250 in the September 28 week, down from 225,000 the prior week.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries, also known as continuing claims, was 1.826 million seasonally adjusted in the week ended September 21, marginally less than the 1.827 million the week before. The four-week moving average in the September 21 week was 1,829,250, down from 1,834,000 the prior week.
The insured unemployment rate in the September 21 week was still 1.2%. This is the number of insured unemployment as a percent of covered employment and has held steady at the amount since March 11, 2023.
Economic conditions vary widely across states and territories. In the week ended September 14, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.25%), California (2.02%), Puerto Rico (1.90%), Rhode Island (1.80%) and Washington State (1.65%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.20%), North Dakota (0.37%), Virgina (0.39%), Florida (0.40%) and North Carolina (0.47%). Rates in other notable states include New York (1.49%), Illinois (1.46%), Pennsylvania (1.37%) and Texas (1.09%). 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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