U.S. Jobless Claims Rose by 9,000 in November 30 Week
Summary
- Initial claims up slightly in last two weeks.
- Continued claims down moderately in mid-November.
- Insured unemployment rate back to 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 9,000 in the week ended November 30 to 224,000 seasonally adjusted, from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week was revised from 213,000 to 215,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected the latest week to be 215,000. The 4-week moving average was 218,250, up 750 from the November 23 week of 217,500, revised from 217,000.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries was 1.871 million in the week ended November 23, down 25,000 from the November 16 week revised level. That week’s level was revised down 11,000 from 1.907 million to 1.896 million. This total number of beneficiaries is also known as “continuing claims.” The 4-week moving average was 1.884 million in the week ended November 23, a decrease of 3,250 from 1.888 million in the week ended November 16, revised from 1.890 million.
The insured unemployment rate, that is, the total number of beneficiaries as a percent of covered employment, was 1.2% in the week ended November 23, after two weeks at 1.3%. Prior to these two weeks at 1.3%, the insured unemployment rate had been for 20 continuous months at 1.2%.
Economic conditions vary widely across areas of the country. The Labor Department reports that for the week ended November 16, the insured unemployment rate for New Jersey was 2.30%, in California 2.04%, Washington State 1.97%, Puerto Rico 1.95%, Alaska 1.90%, Rhode Island 1.72%, Nevada 1.67%, New York 1.57%, Massachusetts and Minnesota each 1.56%, and Illinois 1.54%. The lowest rates were in South Dakota 0.32%, Florida 0.36%, Virginia 0.41%, Alabama 0.43%, Kentucky 0.44%, Nebraska and New Hampshire each 0.46%, Tennessee 0.48%, Mississippi 0.53%, North Dakota 0.54%, and Arkansas and Oklahoma each 0.58%. These state rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment claims are from the Department of Labor, 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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