U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise in Latest Week
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Initial jobless claims increase to highest level in six weeks.
- Continuing claims approach four-week high.
- The insured unemployment rate remains low.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 223,000 in the third week of January from an unrevised 217,000 during the prior week. A 215,000 increase in initial claims had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Initial claims have risen from a 203,000 low in the first week of January. During the last four weeks, initial claims averaged 213,500, down from 226,750 four weeks earlier.
Continuing claims for jobless insurance increased 46,000 (7.8% y/y) to 1.899 million in the week ended January 11 from 1.853 million in the prior week. Ongoing claims have risen from a low of 1.834 million in the third week of December. The four week moving average of continuing jobless insurance claims eased to 1.866 million, down from a 1.888 million high in the third week of November.
The insured rate of unemployment was 1.2% for the fourth straight week. This level was increased from a 2022 low of 0.9% and compares to the rise in the overall unemployment rate to 4.1% from 3.4% over the same period.
Unemployment rates vary widely across states. The Labor Department reports that for the week ended January 4, the insured unemployment rate was highest in Rhode Island (3.22%), New Jersey (3.07%), Minnesota (2.73%), Washington (2.52%) and Massachusetts (2.41%). The insured unemployment rates were lowest in Florida (0.33%), Virginia (0.43%), Tennessee (0.58%) and Alabama (0.52%) and the Virgin Islands (0.67%). Rates in other notable states include California (2.32%), Pennsylvania (2.24%), New York (2.08%) and Texas (1.13%). 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.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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