U.S. Jobless Claims Eased Again in the September 21 Week
Summary
- Initial claims declined by 4,000 in the week ended September 21.
- Continued claims rose by 13,000 in the week ended September14.
- Insured unemployment rate still at 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance eased to 218,00 seasonally adjusted in the week ended September 21, from 222,000 in the prior week, revised up from 219,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had projected claims to reach 225,000. The four-week moving average of claims is 224,750 in the week of September 21, down from 228,250 in the week ended September 14.
The total number of beneficiaries of unemployment insurance was 1,834,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended September 14, up 13,000 from 1,821,000 in the week ended September 7, revised from 1,829,000; this number is also known as continuing claims. Over the past four weeks, it has averaged 1,835,750, down from 1,842,250 in the four weeks ended September 7.
In the September 14 week, the insured unemployment rate was yet again 1.2%. That is the number of beneficiaries as a percentage of covered employment and has held at the amount since March 11, 2023.
Economic conditions vary widely across individual states and territories. In the week ended September 7, the highest covered unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.45%), California (2.02%), Puerto Rico and Rhode Island (both 1.96%), and Washington (1.68%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.24%), Virginia (0.39%), Florida and Kentucky (both 0.40%), and North Carolina (0.42%). Rates in other notable states include New York (1.62%), Pennsylvania (1.42%), Illinois (1.46%) and Texas (1.06%). These 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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