U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Rose in Most Recent Week
by:Sandy Batten
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Despite weekly increase, claims still around 50-year low.
- Continued weeks claimed edged down to lowest level since March 1970.
- Insured unemployment rate holds at record low.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance file in the week ended April 9 rose to 185,000 (-67.6% y/y) versus 167,000 claims file in the previous week, revised up slightly from 166,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 173,000 claims for the latest week. Notwithstanding the weekly rise, claims continue to hover around 50-year lows. The 4-week moving average of initial claims increased to 172,250 from 170,250 in the prior week.
In the week ended April 2, continued weeks claimed for unemployment insurance edged down to 1.475 million, the lowest level since March 1970, from an unrevised 1.523 million in the prior week. The insured unemployment rate held steady at a record low of 1.1%.
In the week ended March 26, the number of continued weeks claimed in all unemployment insurance programs continued to fall, declining to 1.703 million from 1.723 million in the prior week. This total includes federal employees, newly discharged veterans, extended benefits and other specialized programs. Continued claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and for Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation are no longer reported as both programs have expired.
The state insured rates of unemployment in regular programs vary widely. The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 19 were in California (2.40%), New Jersey (2.37%), Alaska (2.16%), Illinois (2.09%) and Rhode Island (2.07%), The lowest rates were in Virginia (0.18%), Alabama (0.20%), North Carolina (0.32%), Tennessee (0.38%), Florida (0.39%) and New Hampshire (0.39%). Other state insured rates of unemployment in regular programs include New York (1.93%), Pennsylvania (1.62%), Ohio (0.96%) and Texas (0.83%). These state rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment claims going back to 1967 are contained in Haver's WEEKLY database, and they are summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics Forecast Survey and is in the AS1REPNA database.
Sandy Batten
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Sandy Batten has more than 30 years of experience analyzing industrial economies and financial markets and a wide range of experience across the financial services sector, government, and academia. Before joining Haver Analytics, Sandy was a Vice President and Senior Economist at Citibank; Senior Credit Market Analyst at CDC Investment Management, Managing Director at Bear Stearns, and Executive Director at JPMorgan. In 2008, Sandy was named the most accurate US forecaster by the National Association for Business Economics. He is a member of the New York Forecasters Club, NABE, and the American Economic Association. Prior to his time in the financial services sector, Sandy was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Sandy has taught economics at St. Louis University, Denison University, and Muskingun College. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in a wide range of academic publications. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Richmond and a M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University.
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