U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Ease 4,000 in Latest Week
Summary
- Jobless claims on very slight downward trend.
- Continuing claims also easing very gradually.
- State insured unemployment rates range from 0.25% to 2.19% in October 26 week.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 217,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended November 9, down 4,000 from the prior week; that earlier amount was not revised from last week’s release. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected the latest week to be 224,000, that is, slightly larger than it turned out. The 4-week moving average of actual claims was 221,000, down from 227,250 through the week ended November 2.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries, also known as “continuing claims,” was 1.873 million seasonally adjusted in the week ended November 2, down from 1.884 million in the week ended October 26; the October 26 amount was revised down from 1.892 million reported last week. The 4-week moving average of continuing claims was 1.874 million in the November 2 week, up marginally from the prior week’s 1.873 million.
Through the week ended November 2, the number of beneficiaries as a percent of covered employment was still 1.2%. This percentage was unchanged from the prior week and has held at this amount since March 11, 2023.
Economic conditions vary widely across states and territories. In the week ended October 26, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.19%), California (1.97%), Puerto Rico (1.87%), Washington (1.68%) and Nevada (1.59%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.25%), North Dakota (0.37%), Virginia (0.40%), Florida and Alabama (both 0.41%) and New Hampshire and Kentucky (both 0.44%). Rates in other notable states include New York (1.48%), Illinois (1.43%), Pennsylvania (1.37%) and Texas (1.03%). 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
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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