U.S. Unemployment Insurance Claims Up Just 4,000 in August 17 Week
Summary
- Initial claims modestly less than forecast.
- Continuing claims up 4,000 in August 10 week.
- Insure unemployment rate still holds at 1.2%.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 232,000 seasonally adjusted, in the week ended August 17, up 4,000 from the previous week’s 228,000; that earlier amount was revised just slightly from 227,000 reported a week ago. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected 235,000 in this latest week. The four-week moving average of initial claims was 236,000 in the August 17 week, down from 236,750 the week before.
In the week ended August 10, the total number of beneficiaries of unemployment insurance, also known as “insured unemployment” or “continuing claims,” was 1.863 million, up from 1.859 million in the prior week. That earlier amount was revised from 1.864 million previously reported. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1,865,500 as of the August 10 week, up from 1,860,750 the week before.
The insured unemployment rate was still 1.2% in the August 10 week. That is the number of insured unemployed as a percentage of covered employment. It has been steady at 1.2% since the week ended March 11, 2023.
Economic conditions vary widely across individual states and territories, as shown by the insured unemployment rates. In the week ended August 3, the highest rates were in New Jersey (2.75%), Puerto Rico (2.60%), Rhode Island (2.59%), California (2.21%) and Minnesota (2.05%). The lowest rates were in South Dakota (0.26%), Kansas (0.39%), Florida (0.43%), Virginia and North Dakota (each 0.44%) and North Carolina and Kentucky (each 0.46%). Rates in other notable states include Pennsylvania (1.86%), New York (1.72%), Illinois (1.62%), Texas (1.20%) and Ohio (0.82%).
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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