U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Decrease 16,000 in Latest Week
Summary
- Jobless claims maintain narrow range.
- Total beneficiaries ease after prior week increase.
- Insured unemployment rate remains low and steady.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 207,000, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended January 25, down from the previous week’s 223,000, which was unrevised. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected 220,000, that is, just a marginal decrease, so the actual number is lower than was forecast. For the four weeks ending January 25, initial claims averaged 212,500, down modestly from 213,500 the previous week.
Through the week ending January 18, the total number of people receiving unemployment benefits – also known as “continuing claims,” was 1.858 million, down from 1.900 million the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1.872 million, up from 1.866 million the prior week.
The insured unemployment rate, that is, the number of people receiving benefits as a percentage of covered employment, held at 1.2%, where it has been since March of 2013, except for a couple of weeks when it edged up to 1.3%.
Unemployment rates vary widely across states. The Labor Department reports that for the week ended January 11, the insured unemployment rate was highest in Rhode Island (2.90%), New Jersey (2.86%), Minnesota (2.54%), California (2.47%) and Washington (2.39%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.34%), Virginia (0.45%), Alabama (0.48%), Kansas (0.57%), and Tennessee and North Carolina (each 0.58%). Rates in other notable states include Illinois (2.38%), Pennsylvania (2.04%), New York (1.92%) and Texas (1.19%). 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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