U.S. Jobless Claims Lowest in 8 Months
Summary
- Initial claims just 211,000 in Dec. 28 week.
- Continuing claims down 52,000 in Dec. 21 week.
- Insured unemployment rate returns to long-standing 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 211,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended December 28, down from 220,000 the week before and the smallest number since 209,000 in the April 27 week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had looked for 221,000 in the latest week. The latest four-week moving average of initial claims was 223,250, down from 226,750 the previous week.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries – also known as “continuing claims” – was 1.844 million in the week ended December 21, noticeably less than the 1.896 million the prior week. That earlier amount was revised from 1.910 million reported previously. The latest four-week moving average was 1,870,750, down from 1,877,500 the week before. The insured unemployment rate, that is, the number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries as a percentage of covered employment, eased back to 1.2% in the December 21 week from 1.3% in the December 14 week.
Unemployment rates vary markedly across states. The Labor Department reports that for the week ended December 14, the insured unemployment rate was highest in New Jersey (2.44%), followed by California (2.23%, Minnesota (2.21%), Washington (2.15%) and Rhode Island (2.12%). The lowest rate was in Florida (0.35%), followed by Virginia (0.42%), Alabama (0.43%), Tennessee (0.5%) and New Hampshire (0.51%). Unemployment rates in other notable states include Illinois (2.02%, Massachusetts (1.87%), New York and Pennsylvania (both 1.72%), and Texas (1.15%). These state data 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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