U.S. Weekly Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Are Little Changed in Latest Weeks
Summary
- Initial claims down 1,000 in March 22 week.
- Continuing claims 4-week average up just 2,000 in latest period.
- Insured unemployment rate holds at 1.2% since January 2024.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 224,000 seasonally adjusted in the week ended last Saturday, March 22, down 1,000 from the previous week’s 225,000, which was initially reported at 223,000. This report includes the annual revision of seasonal factors as well as the usual weekly revisions. Based on the earlier reports, the Action Economics Forecast Survey had expected 225,000, which would have been unchanged from the prior report.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries, also known as continuing claims, was 1.856 million in the week ended March 15, down from 1.881 million in the March 8 week. The four-week moving average of continuing claims was 1.870 million, up very slightly from 1,867.75 the week before.
The insured unemployment rate, that is, the total number of beneficiaries as a percentage of covered employment, remained at 1.2%, where it has been continuously since the week ended January 6, 2024.
Economic conditions vary widely across states and territories. In the week ended March 8, the highest unemployment rates were in Rhode Island (2.86%), New Jersey (2.78%), Colorado (2.42%), Minnesota (2.41%) and Massachusetts (2.37%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.34%), Alabama (0.43%), Virginia (0.48%), Tennessee (0.52%) and North Carolina (0.55%). Rates in other notable states include New York (1.91%), Pennsylvania (1.90%), Illinois (2.25%) and Texas (1.08%). 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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