U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Down 5,000 in June 15 Week
Summary
- Initial claims slightly higher than expected.
- Continuing claims increase moderately.
- Insured unemployment rate still 1.2%, same since March 2023.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 238,000, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended June 15, down 5,000 from the June 8 amount of 243,000, which was revised up 1,000 from 242,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected the June 15 number to be 233,000. The latest week makes the four-week moving average 232,750, up from 227,250 in the June 8 week.
The total of insured unemployment, also known as continued weeks claimed, was 1.828 million in the week ended June 8, up 15,000 from 1.813 in the week ended June 1. That earlier amount was revised from 1.820 million reported before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1.805 million through the June 8 week, up from 1.795 million through the prior week.
The insured unemployment rate, that is, total insured unemployment as a percent of covered employment was yet again 1.2% during the week ended June 8, where it has been continuously since March 11, 2023.
The insured unemployment rate varies widely among individual states and territories. In the week ended June 1, the highest rates were in New Jersey (2.30%), California (2.18%), Washington (1.76%), Rhode Island (1.65%), and Massachusetts (1.54%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.28%), Kansas (0.36%), Florida (0.38%), Kentucky (0.41%), Virginia (0.42%), and North Carolina and New Hampshire (each 0.44%). Rates in other prominent states include New York (1.55%), Pennsylvania (1.51%), Illinois (1.49%), and Texas (1.11%). 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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